Shadows of the Demon
by Axel Nightblazer
Summary: Darkness looms on the horizon. Cipher has risen AGAIN, and is going to attack Sinnoh. It's up to Axel Nightblazer, Aeron Solo, Ash, Anabel, Ichigo, and many others to stop them. What is this strange darkness, and could it be darker than shadow itself?
1. An old enemy comes to visit

**HELLOOOOOO FANFICTIOOOOON~!**

**This is the most awesome author you will ever read a story from (although he CAN'T do anything original for his life D:), AXEEEEEEEEL NIGHTBLAZEEEEER!... ****(chugs bottle of anti-craziness potion) ...Okay, I'm done being weird.**

**My brother, Aeron Solo, works together with me on a series of fanfics. To clarify, this one comes after _Rise of the Forbidden_. Got it? Now read away! :D**

**AND REVIEW!**

* * *

_Eterna City..._

"Hey! Wake up, Axel!"

Axel Nightblazer, still in bed, just rolled over and muttered, "More sleep, thank you," ignoring the shouts of the Mouse Pokémon hopping on his bed.

The Pikachu sighed. "God, can't you get a sense of duty for once...?" The real Tower Tycoon, Palmer, had left recently to train or something, and they hired Axel to take his place until he came back. Glancing worriedly at the clock, which Axel had completely forgotten to set, the Mouse Pokémon continued to worry about how late they'd be for their challenge, and how it was impossible to wake Axel up usually. Good thing he could use electricity.

"Alright, Axel, you leave me with NO OTHER CHOICE!" the Pikachu growled, bouncing onto the desk in Axel's room, then climbing up the bookcase nearby. He turned once to see if he would jump in the right direction. "Here we go..." he declared, and then jumped off the bookcase to crash down on to Axel's stomach with Volt Tackle."COWABUNGA!"

**ZZZZZZZZZT!**

"YAAAAAHHH!" Axel yelled. He furiously burst out of the bed, whirling to look at who attacked him.

"Hi! " the Pikachu said, putting on his best cute image while sitting on Axel's stomach.

"Come on!" Axel groaned, smoothing his frazzled hair. "Niko, I told you! You don't have to Volt Tackle me to wake me up! You use Thunderbolt!"

"You were snoring so loudly, I figured I'd need Volt Tackle to do it. :3" Niko smirked. "And anyway, you're Tower Tycoon, so you can't afford to sleep in, can you?"

"If I knew you would do this, I would never have become Tower Tycoon..." Axel sighed as he got of bed. "Okay, give me a few moments." Axel pulled on a pair of jeans, a blue T-shirt with a hood, and his blue and silver sneakers. Next, he reached over to his desk and picked up two Pokéballs. "Almost ready to go..." Axel muttered, grabbing a bagel for breakfast.

"You take all day," Niko muttered, beginning to walk out the door. "Well, at least we're going now-"

"NO, WAIT, STOP!" Axel shouted, causing Niko to jump in shock...I mean surprise. Axel looked around with horror. "Oh crap, where did I put i-OH! Here we go!" He reached over to the clothes he wore yesterday and plucked out a pair of gleaming blue and silver headphones.

"You really need to take better care of them if they're that important to you," Niko sighed.

"Okay, okay, so I'm too lazy to clean up. You don't have to nag me about it," Axel grumbled. But his face brightened as he ran out the door. "Alright, Niko, ready to go?"

"Ready if you are," Niko replied, leaping onto Axel's shoulder.

"THEN HERE WE COME!" Axel shouted, jumping into the air and landing on his dark blue motorcycle, with streamlined blue plating covering from above the front tire to where he was sitting, and an oversized back tire. Niko leapt on to the back, and they raced off to the Battle Frontier.

* * *

_Several hours later, at the Battle Frontier…_

"FINALLY! WE'RE HERE!" Axel shouted, bursting into the Battle Tower. Everyone in the waiting room jolted when they heard him burst through the doors. Axel stopped to catch his breath, then noticed the stares. "Okay, so a Tower Tycoon comes late. So what?" No one said anything, so Axel just hurried to the elevator and rode up to the Battle Room on the 21st floor.

Axel stepped out of the elevator and was surprised to find a challenger already waiting for him. _Whoa, someone made it to the 21st battle already! _he thought.

"You're late!" shouted the challenger, irritated. He had silver hair and a green headband, and wore a black and red shirt and pants. A green bag was over his shoulder.

"Sorry, overslept," Axel replied, scratching his head guiltily. "And you are?"

"I'm Michael, from the Hoenn Region," the guy replied, grinning. "Nice to meet you! I'm looking forward to getting my Silver Tower Print today!"

"Well, that's pretty modest," Axel muttered sarcastically. "But back to the point. Let's begin!"

* * *

_Pokémon trainer Michael would like to battle!_

"Go! Ken!" Axel called, raising his Pokéball and pressing the button, releasing a Samurott, the Formidable Pokémon.

"Go! Swellow!" yelled Michael, tossing his Pokéball to release the Swallow Pokémon. "Fly!" Swellow appeared in the air, and immediately began to ascend even higher.

"Hydro Cannon!" Axel shouted. Ken roared, and water swirled into a sphere at the tip of his blade head. He blasted it at Swellow at alarming speed. Swellow tried to dodge, but to no avail. She nearly spiraled out of the air, but quickly recovered and flew at Ken, striking him backward.

"Swellow, use Heat wave!" yelled Michael. Swellow began to flap her wings generating hot winds, and then blasted them at Ken, but the flames were extinguished with a Hydro Pump. "Aerial Ace!" Michael continued. With one swift strike, Swellow attempted to hit Ken-but then the Formidable Pokémon unleashed his _own_ Aerial Ace, and the two cancelled each other out. "Sky Attack!" Swellow began to glow with a white light, but Ken jumped into the air and poured water down in a waterfall before she could finish this.

Swellow flapped her wings again and sent a slashing wind at Ken, which the Formidable Pokémon dodged, then rushed at Swellow with water surrounding him, crashing hard into the Swallow Pokémon. "Scald!" Axel commanded. Ken blasted a stream of heated water at Swellow, burning her. Wings shining with a metallic light, Swellow charged at Ken, but he parried each of her strikes.

Ken suddenly lost his footing and was sent flying back, and Swellow began to pursue the Formidable Pokémon, shining with a dark energy. But Ken saw her coming, lowered his head fired a beam of freezing light from his head blade which kept Swellow far away. "Okay, this is taking too long. Wait a sec! I know how to take care of this problem!" Michael grinned. "Swellow, WHIRLWIND!"

"Oh, CRAP! Ken! Ice Beam!" Axel ordered. Ken lowered his head and fired another beam of pale light which struck Swellow just as she flapped her wings and sent a gust of wind which blew Ken away, back into his Pokéball. Immediately, Axel's other Pokéball activated, sending out a Chikorita. "So Fleur was dragged out..." Axel muttered. Fleur also looked a bit confused as to why she suddenly appeared there.

"Ha. A Chikorita? This should be easy, considering she isn't evolved," Michael bragged. "Swellow, attack with A-"

"Toxic!" Axel declared almost automatically. Fleur sent spinning orbs of poisonous energy at the Swallow Pokémon, and Swellow screeched in pain from the toxins. "Now Ancient Power!" Axel continued, as the Chikorita sent shining rocks from the ground flying at Swellow. "Leaf Storm!" Axel ordered, and Fleur swung her leaf around, sending a storm of leaves at Swellow. However, the Chikorita's power quickly diminished as more leaves flew.

"...okay, have NO idea what just happened," Michael muttered. "But anyway, Swellow! Aerial Ace!" The battered Swellow swooped down at Fleur with claws outstretched. But Fleur was prepared for this, and immediately shining rocks rose from the floor again, ramming Swellow. Then suddenly, Fleur glowed with a bright light, revealing her stats had been boosted. "Oh, no!" Michael panicked, realizing that Swellow was in a VERY bad place to be.

"Finish it!" Axel shouted, punching the air. "FRENZY PLANT!" The Leaf Pokémon let out a cry, and roots burst from the ground, spearing Swellow multiple times. Swellow shrieked and fell, unconscious now.

The referee blew his whistle and announced, "Swellow is unable to battle! Fleur wins!"

"Your Pokémon are really strong!" commented Michael, calling back Swellow.

"I know, right?" Axel grinned TOTALLY modestly (not). "But remember, this is just the start."

"Yeah-the start of my victory. Go, Metang!" yelled Michael, pressing the button and releasing the Pokémon.

_Metang? Didn't see that coming... _Axel thought. He wondered if he should switch Pokémon, but then decided against it. "Bring it on!" he shouted, confidently smiling.

* * *

_Somewhere outside Snowpoint City..._

Ash Ketchum groaned from the cold as he trudged up the snowy slopes towards Snowpoint. He pulled his jacket tighter around himself to protect himself from the cold. "While the rest of Sinnoh is warm, this place...ugh," he muttered.

Pikachu, on his shoulder, also huddled close and muttered something. "Yeah," Ash agreed, a bit shakily. "I don't see why he'd want to battle here at this time of year..."

Currently, he was on his way to Snowpoint to meet up with his old rival, Paul. They hadn't seen each other for a while, so they wanted to get together and have a battle.

But then Ash suddenly noticed something, as he continued up the path. "What the-what's going on over there?" he asked. Pikachu looked where he was pointing-and gasped. There was smoke coming from the place where Snowpoint should have been!

"Pikapi? Pikapikapikachu?" Pikachu asked, worried.

"I don't know, Pikachu. Let's go check it out!" Ash replied, dashing in the direction of the smoke. _Hope everyone's alright...but who did this?_

* * *

_Again with the Battle Tower..._

"Niko, use Volt Tackle!" yelled Axel, thrusting his hand out for emphasis.

"Take this!" Niko shouted, releasing tons of volts. His opponent, a Sceptile, watched in shock as Niko spiraled at him, but then raised his arm, merging his leaves into two blades and slashing at Niko. However, the Mouse Pokémon suddenly grabbed his arm and swung around it, kicking Sceptile in the face and discharging all the volts. Niko dropped to the ground as Sceptile crashed next to him, unconscious. "VICTORY!" the Pikachu cheered.

"Sceptile is unable to battle! Niko wins!" the referee guy shouted. "The winner is Tower Tycoon Axel!"

Axel breathed a sigh of relief; it had been an intense fight. Fleur couldn't win against Metang, but used Leech Seed to fight for a bit more. From there, Ken picked up where she left off and defeated the Iron Claw Pokémon. Unfortunately, Sceptile had shown up, and despite Ice-type moves, Ken could not defeat him. Niko had come in afterwards, and had utterly destroyed Sceptile. "Sorry, Michael. Better luck next time," he sighed.

"Yeah, okay," Michael muttered, obviously not pleased by his loss. "Well, I'd better go now." He began to head for the exit.

At this moment, a guy walked into the room and headed to the spectator stands. "Hi," he greeted.

"Hi," Axel replied. Then he suddenly went up to the guy and gave him a (totally fake) battle entry brochure. "Sir, just sign here, here, here, initial here, sign here, here, here, and lastly, put your DOB, Reason For Challenging, and Why You Are Cool. Failure to complete this within five minutes will result in...A PIE IN THE FACE!" The last words were said in a very dramatic tone to freak the guy out.

"Uh...what?" The guy was confused by everything Axel said, particularly because all this was said in the span of 5 seconds. Niko facepalmed at Axel's complete randomness.

Then Axel suddenly noticed Michael staring out the window in disbelief. "Wait, what the heck?" the trainer asked with a look of confused surprise.

Axel ran over to the window next to Michael. "What do you mean, what the heck-OMG WHAT THE HECK?" Both of them saw many armored men and women causing havoc in the Frontier, attacking facilities and people with their Pokémon.

"That armor...they could only be Cipher Peons! Oh, god, don't tell me Cipher's here?" Axel groaned. "Come on, Niko, we're going!" He dashed over to the elevator and slammed the button to go down to the ground floor.

"Hey, wait! What do I do?" asked Michael.

"Just…hide somewhere!" Axel shouted before the elevator closed. Michael muttered something and sat down in the stands next to that other guy.

Axel burst into the waiting room of the Battle Tower and found people already being attacked by the Cipher Peons' Pokémon. "Dude, TOTALLY not cool!" he shouted, bringing up his Pokéballs.

"THERE'S NIGHTBLAZER! GET HIM!" one of the Cipher Peons shouted, pointing at Axel. Immediately, all the attacks flew at Axel.

"AAAAAAAAAAAA HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP!" Axel screamed, rolling out of the way to avoid the assorted attacks. "Urgh, it's nice to see you guys again too...GET 'EM!" he shouted, tossing both his Pokéballs mid-roll. Fleur and Ken promptly unleashed Energy Balls and Hydro Pumps all around the room, smashing the Cipher Peons away...and also, everything else. "Uh...whoops," Axel muttered sheepishly, looking around the room. He actually ended up breaking even MORE of whatever else was in the waiting room than the Cipher Peons. "I'll have it fixed!" Axel called sheepishly, pressing buttons on (what was left of) the PC, transporting three Pokéballs, and running away before anyone could start screaming at him.

"Well, wasn't that a smashing performance," Niko muttered, a bit amused about how Axel tried to stop the Cipher Peons from damaging the Battle Tower, and yet did even more damage than _they_ did.

Fleur and Ken laughed about this as well. "I see what you did there," Ken laughed to Niko.

"Do me a favor, and SHUT UP," Axel growled, noticing Cipher Peons on the path ahead. Ken and Fleur rushed ahead to battle them. Suddenly, they noticed a Solarbeam zooming towards them. "Ken, use Hydro Pump-on the Solarbeam! Fleur, use your own Solarbeam!" Axel ordered. Ken nodded and blasted the Cipher Peons with water, but that water also scattered the Solarbeam, allowing Fleur to catch its light on her leaf, and blast the Cipher Peons with bright green light.

"AAAAAAHHH! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT!" they screamed, getting fried by the intense light.

"Sheesh, they yell too much," Pikachu growled, placing his hands over his ears.

"Really?" Axel asked innocently, ears covered by headphones. "I can't hear anything." Pikachu grumbled something and went back to zapping people. "Anyway, we'd better help the other Frontier Brains deal with Cipher's minions," Axel decided. "What do you think, guys?"

"I agree!" Pikachu replied, raising his hand for emphasis. Ken nodded as well.

"You think the other Frontier Brains are having trouble?" Fleur asked, concerned.

Axel shrugged. "We'll know when we get there." Immediately, another Cipher Peon suddenly burst out from behind him. "Get him!" Axel shouted. Ken howled and unleashed a Blizzard which froze the guy dead in his tracks. "Let's hope those guys stay there for a while," Axel muttered, recalling his Pokémon, as Niko jumped on his shoulder. "And who knows where else Cipher's wrath has struck?"

* * *

_In Snowpoint City..._

_Could my day be going any worse? _Candice thought to herself with a disgusted expression. A few moments ago, two men in weird armor came into the Gym and dragged her away, and as they went she could see more of them mugging people. It made her furious that they were forcing everyone to give up their Pokémon, but she could do nothing about it.

Presently, they brought her in front of the guy who apparently was in charge, since he was bossing everyone around anyway. "You found her? Good work," he complimented. Then he eyed her with amusement. "You, a Gym Leader?" he chuckled. "You're only a scrawny little girl."

"Shut your mouth!" Candice snarled at him. It was bad enough that she couldn't go anywhere and her city was being mowed down, but she had literally known this guy for all of 10 seconds and he was annoying the crap out of her already.

"Oh, you want to challenge me? Too bad you won't be doing anything while my men are there! Ha!" the moron laughed. Then he reached for her pocket. "Now I'll be taking your Pokémon..."

"Don't you dare!" Candice hissed, and as the armored guys were only holding her arms, her leg went up and kicked the boss hard in the face.

"Oh, that does it! Release her!" the boss roared with fury (and through a bloody nose). "I'm gonna rip her to shreds in a battle!"

"Challenge accepted." Candice replied, as her arms were released. She raised two Pokéballs and prepared to fight...

* * *

_Gym Leader Candice would like to battle!_

"Go! Weavile and Mamoswine!" Candice shouted.

"Go! Magneton and Misdreavus!" shouted the captain.

Candice immediately knew something was wrong, judging by the cold looks the two Pokémon were giving her. _Even for a loner, that's _really _extreme._ "Mamoswine! Earthquake!" she ordered. Mamoswine let out a roar and stomped the ground, causing it to shake violently.

"Ha! Magneton, Magnet Rise!" the captain laughed. Magneton used his magnets to rise away from the ground, and Misdreavus was levitating, so she wasn't hurt at all.

Candice wasn't discouraged at all. "Weavile! Faint Attack!" she shouted, and Weavile attacked without warning, blowing Misdreavus towards Mamoswine, who roared and, along with Weavile, called down a heavy rain of snow, trapping Misdreavus completely. However, Magneton fired a Thunderbolt at Weavile, then shot a flash of steely light at Mamoswine, buying enough time for the Screech Pokémon to escape.

"Now I've got you! Magneton, use Shadow Bolt! Misdreavus, use Shadow Crash!" the captain shouted.

Candice was stunned. She had _never_ heard of those moves in her life. But instantly, shadowy lightning and a massive wave of shadow crashed into Weavile and Mamoswine. Her two Pokémon were knocked out in one blow. "...return," she finally managed weakly. _But what just happened?_

"Now! Finish her! Use Shadow Bolt and Shadow Crash!"

"W-what?! I haven't even called out a Pokémon!" Candice protested, Weavile and Mamoswine's Pokéballs still in hand.

"That doesn't matter," the captain retorted. "You-a Gym Leader-are in the way of our goals, and we must eliminate you! WIPE HER OUT, MAGNETON! MISDREAVUS!"

To her dismay, Candice suddenly found herself paralyzed with fear, and slowly turned her head to see a Crobat staring at her with glowing eyes. _No...they even had a way to prevent me from escaping? _Her eyes darted back to the oncoming attacks. _Crap...sorry everyone..._

**BOOM!**

Candice was sure she'd been obliterated...and suddenly her eyes opened wide, because she hadn't. There were sparks everywhere, but she was unharmed. The Crobat lay on the ground, unconscious. "Hey! Get out of my way, punk!" the captain yelled.

Candice was surprised to see Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu in front of her, having deflected the attack with electricity. "A-Ash!" Candice shouted. "What are you doing here?"

Ash opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything before he suddenly had to dodge a blast of shadow. "You!" the guy yelled. "You're Ash Ketchum. I'm glade you came; now I can tear you to bits."

"I doubt you could do that if you tried," Ash replied, and Candice had to wonder if he was mocking him. "Your skills aren't exactly right for that kind of job."

"OH THAT DOES IT!" Golva hollered. "MAGNETON! SHADOW BOLT!" Magneton began to charge purple lightning again, but then suddenly was blasted with flames. "Wait, what?" Golva's eyes followed it to see an Infernape. "Infernape?"

Ash slowly drew out another Pokéball, and his face was VERY hard and cold. "_You'll_ be the one to pay-for blowing up Snowpoint City. Hope you've got insurance."

"Ash! Wait! This guy's really strong! I know you're strong too, but-" Candice began to argue.

"I've dealt with Cipher before, and I know how to beat them. Don't worry." Ash turned to face the Cipher Captain. "Hope you're good at fighting without as much of a major advantage of having Shadow Pokémon; or else you might not stand a chance."

* * *

_Cipher Commander Golva would like to battle!_

Magneton recovered from the flames, and glared with hate at Infernape, who stood ready to battle him and Misdreavus. "Go! Staraptor!" Ash shouted, tossing his Pokéball and sending out the Predator Pokémon. "Aerial Ace!"

Staraptor surged forward and slashed Misdreavus with his claws, then dodged Magneton's Shadow Bolt and unleashed Close Combat, striking Magneton many times. Magneton struck Staraptor again with a Shadow Bolt, causing the Predator Pokémon to fall. However, before Magneton could take advantage of this, Infernape's fists flew like bullets, barraging Magneton and forcing him away. Then Infernape surrounded himself with bright orange fire and smashed into Magneton with Flare Blitz, ignoring the flames that burned at himself.

"Nice moves! But strike all you want; there's no way you can defeat my Shadow Pokémon!" the captain laughed. "Wait-what the heck?" he yelled when he saw two Pokéballs zooming towards the two. An orange, claw-like aura flared out and enveloped the two Pokémon. Candice's eyes widened as the Pokémon zoomed into the Pokéballs.

"Yes, I probably couldn't defeat them, but I can steal them." Ash said. "I don't like stealing, but it's the least I can do. I can't let those Pokémon stay in _your_ hands." Candice and the Cipher Captain stared for a long moment at Ash's arm. There was a new armor on it, which looked strangely familiar for the Cipher Captain.

"Your Snag Machine? So there's the abominable device!" the captain exclaimed, first in surprise, then a look of triumph on his face. "Don't get cocky, though, 'cause I have others-" He sent out a Flareon, an Absol, a Lombre, and a Dugtrio, all of which were shadow.

Ash sighed and shook his head. "Do you never learn? Infernape, Flare Blitz!"

Infernape ran towards the Cipher Captain's Absol, orange flames whipping around him. He leaped over the Lombre's Water Gun attack, and then smashed headlong into Absol. Ignoring the recoil again, he opened his mouth and unleashed a stream of flames, overwhelming Absol.

Ash raised his hand (the one with the device on it). A Pokéball whirled into it, and then an orange light filled it. Then he threw the Pokéball at the Absol, pulling it in. Candice watched apprehensively as it shook once…twice…three times…then several sparkles emitted from the Pokéball.

"All those Pokéballs _caught_ a Pokémon that already belongs to a trainer?" Candice gasped.

"No!" Golva shouted. "Lombre, use Hydro Pump!" Water swirled around Lombre…but it was mottled purple.

"Staraptor, Brave Bird!" Ash shouted. Staraptor unleashed massive blue energy and smashed into Lombre. Ash threw another Pokéball at the Lombre, and it caught as well.

"Dugtrio, Rock Blast!" Golva shouted. Dugtrio generated a rock that was strangely shimmering with purple, and then blasted it out towards Staraptor. But then Infernape smashed it with his fist and smashed Dugtrio in the face. Another Pokéball thrown…another Pokémon caught. Brimming with rage, the Cipher Commander shouted, "Flareon, use Flare Blitz!" Flareon, a fiendish look in his eyes, generated dark red flames and rushed towards the two Pokémon.

_Dark red?_ Candice thought. _Is this what Shadow Pokémon can do for real?_

"Staraptor, return!" Ash suddenly shouted, pointing the Pokéball at the Predator Pokémon and pulling him back in. "Now go, Floatzel!" Floatzel came out, and unleashed a huge torrent of water, extinguishing the Flare Blitz and knocking the Flareon back. Then he surrounded himself with water and smashed into Flareon. Immediately following that, another Pokéball flew. The Flareon was sucked into the orange claw, and the ball rolled on the floor, flashing. And just like that, the Cipher Commander's entire team was stolen.

"Dang it!" he yelled, frustrated. "Why? Why do you interfere with us? Ash Ketchum!"

"That's because you and Cipher are evil," replied Ash. "Pokémon training is all about making your Pokémon stronger while being friends with them. You don't value Pokémon one bit. You make them all heartless fighting machines. That's why I try to stop you."

"Well, you won't try anymore!" the Commander yelled, running towards Ash. Not flinching, Ash held up his hand (the one with the Snag Machine), moved it back, and then thrust it out.

**KA-BLAMM!**

The Cipher Commander was sent flying out of Snowpoint, blasted out by the wake of Ash's palm thrust. Candice watched him fly off, shocked. "What on Earth is that?"

"It's the Snag Machine. Those Pokémon are corrupted into heartless, emotionless machine-like fighters, and this lack of feeling makes them exceptional at fighting. I use this to take them and turn them back into regular Pokémon. It's not my style, but we can't really let them stay corrupted," Ash replied.

Candice considered this. "You're right. But how did you know they were all shadow?"

"He mentioned that the first two were shadow, but for the rest, I just sensed their aura."

Deciding not to ask about how he could sense Aura, Candice looked around. "The Cipher Peons are still on the loose. You think you could help me take them down?"

"Is there really an answer for that?" Ash replied, alreday walking away to combat them. "Let's go!"

* * *

_Back at the Battle Frontier..._

A Cipher Peon tried to have his Quagsire use Earthquake, but Axel had already noticed. "Fleur! Solar Beam!" he shouted.

Fleura whirled and blasted a beam of green light from her leaf. "Nailed him!" she shouted cheerfully. "Did I do great, Axel?"

"Just wonderfully," Axel replied, bending down and patting her on the head. Then he heard shouts from behind and pointed. "Ken! Blizzard!" Ken blasted a Blizzard attack and iced the Cipher Peons over, ensuring they wouldn't be blowing anything else up. "There we go!" Axel breathed a sigh of relief. "Ken, Fleur, return!" He turned to his colleague, Thorton, the Factory Head. "Alright, Thorton, this area's clear now."

"Thanks," Thorton replied, giving him a thumbs-up. "But we definitely have to let the Pokemon League know about this. Go to the Gym Leaders, Champion and Elite Four and warn them about what's coming."

"Can you guys handle the rest of whatever happens here?" Axel asked.

"We'll be just fine. The Battle Factory has a bunch of strong Pokémon in there," Thorton grinned. "Now go! We can't let these guys run around unchecked like we did Team Galactic."

"Right," Axel replied. He jumped onto his motorcycle, grabbing Niko and starting it up immediately. "We'll head straight to the Pokémon League," he decided. "This is something all of them will have to get involved in!"

* * *

_Oreburgh Mine..._

The air felt thick and full of dust. Roark mopped his forehead, feeling the heat. _We're going deeper and deeper,_ he thought, tired. _Eventually it's going to be too deep for us to dig anymore safely..._ Ignoring the pain, he helped cart more of the coal up to the conveyor belts up to the surface.

Things were getting worrisome, though. Because the mines extended so deep, now the conveyor belts were getting expensive to maintain. And if a cave-in occurred while miners were down here...everything would be a disaster for Oreburgh. They'd have to take even greater care while mining.

At this moment, he suddenly heard the sounds of a Shadow Ball being fired. Roark suddenly felt his spine go cold; it could very well cause a collapse. "Sorry, could you guys take the load without me for a bit?" he asked quickly. The workers barely had time to nod when he ran over to where he heard the Shadow Ball. "Hey! That's dangerous at this de-"

But Roark had to stop. There was a Dusknoir, and next to him was a fallen Zubat. The Dusknoir's trainer was a teenage boy with green hair and eyes. His T-shirt and cargo pants were also green, and he had a yellow backpack. "Oh, hey Roark, what's up?" he asked.

"Ben? Didn't expect to see you here," Roark commented. "But what are you doing all the way down here?"

"Well, I thought because Oreburgh Mine was deepening, I could explore any new caverns that appeared," Ben replied, grinning. "Just cause I can."

"Well, yeah, I see what you mean. But just be careful; you could start a cave-in with your Pokémon's attacks if you mess up! And then you'd be trapped, and I'm not sure if we could help you," Roark warned. With that, he headed back to work, waving a goodbye to Ben over his shoulder.

But it wasn't long before a worker came to Roark with an excited face. "We found something strange in Tunnel 3, sir! It's some kind of altar or something! You gotta see it!" Fascinated, Roark followed the worker down the tunnel.

But they never saw it.

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

Roark and the worker stopped short when they heard the noise. "We don't use explosives, do we?" the worker asked. "Then why did that just happen?"**  
**

"I don't know who decided to use explosives here, but there's only one thing that can mean," Roark replied grimly. "RUN!"

They had barely taken a step when cracks started to appear in the ceiling. Then rocks began to pour down on Roark. The Gym Leader looked up frantically. "Go! Aggron!" he shouted desperately, and the Iron Armor Pokémon appeared just in time to catch a falling rock. But more stones poured from the ceiling. "Rampardos, you too!" Roark shouted over the rumble, tossing another Pokéball.

Rampardos caught another rock and smashed it with his head. Aggron fired a beam of freezing light at the ceiling, keeping the rocks from collapsing for just a second, giving Roark and the worker enough time to run.. "We can't keep this up forever," Roark muttered. Suddenly, another HUGE rock fell, and Rampardos was too busy to notice. Roark shouted in surprise, but Aggron grabbed it and tossed it away.

Suddenly, a Salamence was above them, a green barrier extending from it around them. On top of the Salamence was Ben! "Roark! What's going on?!" he demanded over the din. "Why would you use explosives? You told me some of the rock wasn't stable!"

"The workers didn't!" Roark shouted back, as Rampardos and Aggron crushed the boulders in front of them. "Someone else must have done it! But who, I wouldn't know..."

"We can ponder that question later!" Ben replied, standing up. "But for now, we need to hurry and get out of here!" He pointed two more Pokéballs. "Empoleon! Infernape! We need your help!" The Emperor Pokémon and Flame Pokémon had barely even left their Pokéballs and already were attacking the rocks in front with steely fins and lightning-fast punches and kicks.

"Are any of the tunnels collapsed?" Roark asked, squinting off into the distance. It was hard to see even with Infernape's bright flame, and he still couldn't see from the falling rocks when he switched on the lamp on his hard hat.

"How should I know? We were both on the lower levels!" Ben retorted, grabbing Roark and the worker and pulling them onto Salamence's back just before a rock smashed down nearby. "But this is gonna be a wild ride. Empoleon, Infernape, return!"

Roark wondered what Ben was doing, but quickly recalled his Pokémon as well. "Why did you do that?" he was about to ask, but the words never fully came out before Salamence rocketed through the tunnels at high speed. Ben and Salamence looked forward with a grim expression, knowing that one collision would spell doom for them.

Salamence suddenly fired a Hyper Beam, clearing the rocks for a few moments and allowing him to race through a tight corridor without much trouble. "We should almost be there, right?" Ben asked. "The next tunnel shou-OH CRAP!" The tunnel he was about to turn into was blocked! Salamence made a U-turn, but more rock had fallen, squeezing the area Salamence could fly freely in. "Almost there, Salamence..." Ben growled.

"Wait! What's that?" Roark gasped, pointing at a sparking piece of metal in the rubble. The two realized it was part of the conveyor belt system! Scanning the area hard, Roark spotted another one going up another tunnel. "Hurry! That way!" he shouted, pointing.

Salamence threw out a leg and caught onto a stalactite, pulling himself into a tight turn to avoid another rock. The Dragon Pokémon, weary, surged on for a few final meters and collapsed...in an ice-coated tunnel. "Wait...ice?!" Ben muttered, looking around. The cracks had all been frozen over by ice, and in an expert way; nothing was breaking. "Who could have done this?" Ben wondered, recalling Salamence and walking across the cold floor.

Roark shrugged, and looked at the frozen conveyor belt. "It's going to take a while to repair this..." he sighed. "I suppose we'll have to literally start all over again."

"Never mind that," Ben comforted, patting him on the shoulder. "You already dug the tunnels; it won't take as long." His voice suddenly trailed off when he thought he heard shouting noises. "Hey, did your workers do this because they were trying to find you?"

"I didn't know any workers with Ice-type Pokémon," Roark replied, shrugging. "But then who could have done it?"

Ben and Roark had no time to ponder, because then the voices became louder, and then two armored men arrived on the scene. "What the-?! What are you doing here?" they shouted.

"I should be asking you that," Roark replied, gazing warily at their outfits. "What kind of getup is that? And who are you, anyway?"

Ben narrowed his eyes at them. _I feel like I should know who these guys are...who were they? _"You act like we shouldn't be here, and yet Roark is the supervisor of this mine," he noted. "So how can you act that way?"

"It's not safe to be in here," one of the armored guys replied. "After all, there was just an earthquake, and-"

"Earthquake? Those were clearly EXPLOSIVES!" Ben suddenly raised his voice, growing increasingly enraged by those guys. "Any explanation for THAT?"

"Sigh...I guess we've been discovered already," the other armored guy muttered. A sneer crossed his face next. "We are Cipher! We're here for something in your mine, Gym Leader!"

"What would you want in here?" Roark demanded, more than a little annoyed at being called "Gym Leader."

"That's not for you to know," the Cipher Peon replied automatically. "But since you're the only opposition we have, we'll just crush you right now!" He raised a Pokéball and released a Frosslass, while his partner sent out a Mightyena. "Problem?"

"I'm just fine with that," Roark replied, sending out his Aggron. "My concern is if _you_ have a problem."

Ben stepped up next to Roark. "Shall we do a tag battle?" he asked, and was answered with a quick nod. "Go, Dusknoir!" Dusknoir appeared and immediately charged up a Shadow Ball, blasting Frosslass's Ice Shard to pieces. Annoyed, the Snow Land Pokémon retaliated with an Ominous Wind, slashing Dusknoir. The Gripper Pokémon responded with two fists to the face-one flaming and one surrounded with ghostly energy. Ruthlessly continuing, dark energy gathered in front of Dusknoir, and he fired it at Frosslass, downing her in seconds.

"What?! Already?!" the Cipher Peon shouted in disbelief. "Well, whatever. Go, Rapidash! Flame Wheel!" The Fire Horse Pokémon appeared, and immediately generated flames around himself, galloping at Aggron. However, a green barrier separated them, and then Aggron caused rocks to enclose Rapidash. Then Aggron sent small stones flying at Rapidash, striking critical points and doing huge damage. "Rapidash, Flamethrower!" Rapidash unleashed flames from his horn, burning Aggron.

"Dusknoir, stop Rapidash!" Ben shouted, but then Mighteyena bit down hard on Dusknoir, who angrily unleashed a Focus Blast, but Mightyena swiftly dodged and fired a Dark Pulse, causing Dusknoir to stumble. Then Mightyena leapt at Dusknoir with another Crunch. Desperately, Dusknoir began to fire many Focus Blasts, overwhelming the Bite Pokémon. Then Dusknoir pointed at Rapidash and fired a Shadow Ball, disrupting the Flamethrower. However, Mightyena recovered and bit down again, this time with electrified fangs.

Aggron shot Mightyena with Ice Beam, freezing the Bite Pokémon. Now free, Dusknoir charged up another Shadow Ball and shot the Fire Horse Pokémon, but Rapidash suddenly broke out and dodged, then fired a bright green laser which missed. However, the light began to ricochet around the ice-covered cave, and Dusknoir had to frantically dodge the bouncing Solarbeam. Aggron Protected himself, and stopped the Solarbeam by doing that.

Rapidash tried to jump at Aggron, but the Iron Armor Pokémon dodged, and Rapidash slid across the icy floor into the wall, dazed. Aggron and Dusknoir wasted no time and attacked with Stone Edge and Rock Slide, causing Rapidash to faint. A Torkoal was sent out next, who unleashed a huge cloud of smog. Dusknoir roared from the poison, but Aggron was unaffected and marched up to Torkoal, preparing a Rock Tomb. However, then Torkoal blasted lava at ALL Pokémon, causing them to faint immediately.

Ben muttered something and called back Dusknoir. "Should I use...?" he began to wonder, and then suddenly shook his head. "I'll save that one for last. Go, Empoleon!" Torkoal's Flamethrower completely missed as the Emperor Pokémon swiftly moved out of the way and unleashed a raging torrent of water from his beak, defeating Torkoal almost instantly.

Roark sent out a Golem, and the other Cipher Peon brought out a Skarmory. Skarmory slashed Golem with his wings, while Golem tried to strike him, but his Rock-type moves were ineffective. However, Roark was undaunted. "Always prepared," he muttered with a smile. "Golem! Use Fling!"

"Fling? What will that d-OH CRAP!" the Cipher Peon shouted when Golem brought out a heavy Iron Ball and threw it at Skarmory, who buckled from the weight, landing on the ground. Wasting no time, Golem called out an Earthquake, damaging Skarmory and the only-just sent out Relicanth. Ben saw the Earthquake, and quickly called Empoleon back before it could hit, then sent out a Torterra, which unleashed his own Earthquake, damaging Skarmory and Relicanth more, while Golem Protected himself just in time.

However, Relicanth brought out a giant wave of water (where he got this water I WILL NEVER KNOW), and Golem was washed out in one hit (not helped that he had taken lots of damage from Skarmory). Torterra braved the hit, and retaliated with a storm of leaves from his tree, defeating Relicanth. Ben was a bit surprised about how well these guys battled, but continued on. "Torterra! Earthq-" he began, but then suddenly heard a cracking, and then suddenly the ice above their heads broke! "RUN!" Ben shouted, grabbing Roark and recalling Torterra, then hurrying outside. The Cipher Peons also decided it was time to run and dashed away as well.

They all bolted through the entrance of the mine just in time, as rocks poured from the ceiling to block the tunnel. "No! How will we get in there now?" the Cipher Peon shouted in dismay.

"That's the _least_ of your problems," Roark replied, pointing at the police. "If you try to make an effort to escape, we can just take you on again."

As the Cipher Peons were taken into custody, Ben suddenly got a call on his Pokétch. "Yeah?" he asked.

"Hey Ben, this is Flint. Could you come back to the Pokémon League quickly? A guy called Axel Nightblazer's here, and he wants to meet yo-"

"Axel?!" Ben repeated excitedly. "Okay! I'll come right away!" He sent out his Salamence and jumped on, flying away. "Been so long since we last saw each other," Ben smiled. "Wonder how he's doing? But..." then he looked back at the Cipher Peons and his face darkened. "I have a feeling we'll see more of these guys in the future..."

* * *

_The Pokémon League..._

"What?! Cynthia's disappeared?!"

"That's right," Flint replied, scratching his head. "We don't know what happened to her, but she disappeared this afternoon without a trace."

Axel and Ben looked at each other a bit nervously. "You don't think this is connected to Cipher's appearance, do you?" Ben asked.

Axel shrugged. "I wouldn't put it past them. Though what they intend to do with Cynthia is something which would be a mystery even to me."

"You'd best try to find her. From what you've said, it sounds like Cipher doesn't exactly have her best interests at heart," Flint suggested.

"Come with me, Ben," Axel immediately offered. "Just like the old days with Team Galactic, they won't be able to stop our combined power."

"Okay, hold on, I'll get my motorcycle," Ben replied, and headed out to a shed outside the building and opened the door just a crack. Immediately, the shed suddenly collapsed. "NO!" Ben screamed in horror. He dug through the debris, and found to his relief that his bright green and red motorcycle was still intact. "Phew." Ben muttered. That's when he noticed. "No! The paint got scratched!"

Axel rocked back on his heels. "You make a big deal about it just because the _paint got scratched_?!"

"Oh, whatever." Ben sighed and tried to pulled it out of the shed wreck. "Argh, this thing is heavy..."

"Oh my god, Ben," Axel groaned. "Well, it can't be helped." He threw up a Pokéball. "Come on, Leo!" A Lucario burst out of the Pokéball and walked over to the wreckage. He pulled most of it off the motorcycle and threw it off somewhere.

The motorcycles zoomed off, and out of the Pokémon League. But as soon as they left, they noticed helicopters in the sky. The helicopters were armed with somewhat poorly concealed missile launchers and laser blasters, and were piloted by two Cipher Peons each.

"Just wonderful. Ciphercopters!" Axel groaned. When Ben looked at him in confusion, he explained, "They're special helicopters made by Cipher. They're used to capture Pokémon to be made into Shadow Pokémon. And with all the artillery on them, you can guess what other purpose they serve."

"That's not good," Ben commented. "We'd better do something about them." He raised a Pokéball and pressed the button, sending out his Salamence. "After all, what would happen if they just went and caught all the Pokémon without any qualms?"

"Exactly! Niko, Thunderbolt!" Axel ordered. Niko stood on the handlebars of the motorcycle as he began to charge electricity, and then he unleashed a huge amount of volts. It struck one Ciphercopter, knocking it out of the air.

Then another one swooped down. This time, Niko jumped off the motorcycle. "VOLT TACKLE!" he cried, bursting into, um, electricity. He blew a sparking hole in the Ciphercopter as it passed by. It exploded shortly afterwards. Niko landed on the motorcycle and grinned proudly.

However, there were a LOT of Ciphercopters, and they all were firing missiles at the motorcycles. Axel and Ben had to carefully dodge each one, but it was tough. "We can't make do with just Niko!" Axel decided. "Go, Hiita! Leo!" He pointed both Pokéballs into the air, and a Ninetales and Leo burst from a flash of red light, howling. Fangs burning, the Ninetales leaped upon one of the Ciphercopters and slashed it with them, then jumped away as the Ciphercopter fell in flames. Leo charged up an azure blue sphere in his hand and threw it at the Ciphercopter, which was struck in the rotor blades and spiraled out of the air.

_Well this is a fine mess you've gotten into today,_ Hiita commented, as she and Leo landed smoothly and started to run alongside the motorcycles, never stumbling once. _I suppose they're back to their old tricks again?_ Leo said nothing, but warily gazed at the Ciphercopters.

"What do you think the answer is to that?" Axel retorted, popping a wheelie and sharply turning down a fork in the path to avoid a missile. Hiita and Leo nimbly leaped over it, and Ben was completely out of the blast range. "Hiita! Heat Wave! Leo! Dark Pulse!" Axel ordered. Leo raised his hands, and dark energy gathered in his hands, which he blasted at a Ciphercopter, blasting it to smithereens.

Hiita gathered flames in her mouth, then leaped into the air and shot them out, striking all the Ciphercopters and causing them to fall, flaming to the ground. _Now _that's_ skill_, she thought confidently. Leo gave her a glare, but still said nothing.

"I'm gonna help too!" Ben declared, tossing two Pokéballs into the air. "Salamence, Dusknoir, go!" Salamence and Dusknoir flew out and blasted meteors and blasts of darkness at the Ciphercopters, downing them quickly. "Aerial Ace! Go!" Ben shouted. Salamence swooped at a Ciphercopter, but a net entangled him. With noticeable difficulty, he slashed it to pieces with his claws.

Next, one of the copters fired a red bolt of energy. Leo swiftly dodged, but Hiita was struck by it, and she fainted on the spot. Axel growled and recalled her. "Stun bolts. Totally unfair," he growled, then popped a wheelie to avoid another bolt. "Leo, Bone Rush!" Leo pulled his hands apart, revealing a bone composed of aura. Leaping between trees with Extreme Speed, he deflected the stun bolts, then jumped above the Ciphercopter, and brought the bone down on the rotors, destroying them. The Aura Pokémon jumped away as the Ciphercopter fell to the ground, flaming.

Ben had to swerve away, but Axel continued on, body close to the motorcycle. Then he ramped over the wreck, sitting upright to spring up even higher. His spinning front tire crashed into a Ciphercopter, shearing it in half and causing the pilots to fall to the ground. Before another Ciphercopter could shoot at him, Axel thumbed buttons on his motorcycle, throwing tiny blue blasts of energy at the copter and knocking it away. "Timing is everything," Axel grinned to a baffled Ben as he landed.

"Um, right," Ben replied, sweatdropping. Then he saw another Ciphercopter training its missile launchers at the two. "Salamence! Draco Meteor!" he shouted. Salamence fired a meteor into the sky, which split, the fragments falling on most of the Ciphercopters, causing them to fall. One wreck fell in front of Axel and Ben, and they both had to drive over the wreck. As they went over it, they bumped into each other. "NO! THE PAINT GOT SCRATCHED AGAIN!" yelled Ben as if this would end the world.

"QUIT YELLING ABOUT _PAINT!_" groaned Axel in disgust. Suddenly, he saw another missile flying at them. "Look out!" he shouted. Axel zoomed away in a tight turn, going a different direction, as Ben drove the other way. The missile exploded behind them.

"This is taking too long. Niko, take over," Axel muttered. He jumped off the motorcycle, and Niko grabbed the controls. Suddenly, Axel's clothes melted into a very dark blue _Shikahusho_ (Shinigami uniform) with white socks and sandals, a sleeveless Captain's Haori with a kanji five on the back, and a sheathed dark blue and silver katana on his back. Axel unsheathed the sword, a fiendish smile crossing his face. "I'll show you my best Fan Service!"

Crossing his arms in front of his face, he brought his right arm back and threw his sword blade into the air. It boomeranged back at Axel from behind in a crescent moon-like projectile of silver light. Without turning, Axel extended his right arm outwards. The energy splashed across his arm, and solidified quickly into a gauntlet of hexagonal plates going back to his elbow, and up to his hand. "Rule over the midnight heavens!" Axel shouted as he spun around, and stood in a battle-ready pose with his right arm in front of his chest. A blade of silver energy flew from the plate on his wrist, sending brilliant silver-blue light around. _"Shiruba-Getsu_ (Silver Moon)!"

"Wait, WTF did he just do?" Ben gawked in surprise. Niko facepalmed at Axel's mention of Fan Service.

Axel raised his fist, which began to glow silver-blue. "_Tsukiren!_ (Moon Ripple)" He punched at the Ciphercopters and launched a silver wave, blasting them out of the sky. With much difficulty, Niko and Ben swerved to avoid the falling wrecks. Axel landed on the motorcycle again smoothly, his clothes melting back into his normal ones. "I'll tell you about it as we go," he replied to Ben's unasked question. "It's a very long story."

"Um, right..." Ben muttered. He had no idea what just happened, but only now had he realized that Axel had a side he never saw before...and this fight would show him this other side in full.


	2. Cipher gets terrorized by Tourists

**HELLOOOOOO FANFICTIOOOOON~!**

**This is the most awesome author you will ever read a story from (although he CAN'T do anything original for his life D:), AXEEEEEEEEL NIGHTBLAZEEEEER!... ****(chugs bottle of anti-craziness potion) ...Okay, I'm done being weird.**

**My brother, Aeron Solo, works together with me on a series of fanfics. To clarify, this one comes after _Rise of the Forbidden_. Got it? Now read away! :D**

**AND REVIEW!**

* * *

_Eterna City..._

"Hey! Wake up, Axel!"

Axel Nightblazer, still in bed, just rolled over and muttered, "More sleep, thank you," ignoring the shouts of the Mouse Pokémon hopping on his bed.

The Pikachu sighed. "God, can't you get a sense of duty for once...?" The real Tower Tycoon, Palmer, had left recently to train or something, and they hired Axel to take his place until he came back. Glancing worriedly at the clock, which Axel had completely forgotten to set, the Mouse Pokémon continued to worry about how late they'd be for their challenge, and how it was impossible to wake Axel up usually. Good thing he could use electricity.

"Alright, Axel, you leave me with NO OTHER CHOICE!" the Pikachu growled, bouncing onto the desk in Axel's room, then climbing up the bookcase nearby. He turned once to see if he would jump in the right direction. "Here we go..." he declared, and then jumped off the bookcase to crash down on to Axel's stomach with Volt Tackle."COWABUNGA!"

**ZZZZZZZZZT!**

"YAAAAAHHH!" Axel yelled. He furiously burst out of the bed, whirling to look at who attacked him.

"Hi! " the Pikachu said, putting on his best cute image while sitting on Axel's stomach.

"Come on!" Axel groaned, smoothing his frazzled hair. "Niko, I told you! You don't have to Volt Tackle me to wake me up! You use Thunderbolt!"

"You were snoring so loudly, I figured I'd need Volt Tackle to do it. :3" Niko smirked. "And anyway, you're Tower Tycoon, so you can't afford to sleep in, can you?"

"If I knew you would do this, I would never have become Tower Tycoon..." Axel sighed as he got of bed. "Okay, give me a few moments." Axel pulled on a pair of jeans, a blue T-shirt with a hood, and his blue and silver sneakers. Next, he reached over to his desk and picked up two Pokéballs. "Almost ready to go..." Axel muttered, grabbing a bagel for breakfast.

"You take all day," Niko muttered, beginning to walk out the door. "Well, at least we're going now-"

"NO, WAIT, STOP!" Axel shouted, causing Niko to jump in shock...I mean surprise. Axel looked around with horror. "Oh crap, where did I put i-OH! Here we go!" He reached over to the clothes he wore yesterday and plucked out a pair of gleaming blue and silver headphones.

"You really need to take better care of them if they're that important to you," Niko sighed.

"Okay, okay, so I'm too lazy to clean up. You don't have to nag me about it," Axel grumbled. But his face brightened as he ran out the door. "Alright, Niko, ready to go?"

"Ready if you are," Niko replied, leaping onto Axel's shoulder.

"THEN HERE WE COME!" Axel shouted, jumping into the air and landing on his dark blue motorcycle, with streamlined blue plating covering from above the front tire to where he was sitting, and an oversized back tire. Niko leapt on to the back, and they raced off to the Battle Frontier.

* * *

_Several hours later, at the Battle Frontier…_

"FINALLY! WE'RE HERE!" Axel shouted, bursting into the Battle Tower. Everyone in the waiting room jolted when they heard him burst through the doors. Axel stopped to catch his breath, then noticed the stares. "Okay, so a Tower Tycoon comes late. So what?" No one said anything, so Axel just hurried to the elevator and rode up to the Battle Room on the 21st floor.

Axel stepped out of the elevator and was surprised to find a challenger already waiting for him. _Whoa, someone made it to the 21st battle already! _he thought.

"You're late!" shouted the challenger, irritated. He had silver hair and a green headband, and wore a black and red shirt and pants. A green bag was over his shoulder.

"Sorry, overslept," Axel replied, scratching his head guiltily. "And you are?"

"I'm Michael, from the Hoenn Region," the guy replied, grinning. "Nice to meet you! I'm looking forward to getting my Silver Tower Print today!"

"Well, that's pretty modest," Axel muttered sarcastically. "But back to the point. Let's begin!"

* * *

_Pokémon trainer Michael would like to battle!_

"Go! Ken!" Axel called, raising his Pokéball and pressing the button, releasing a Samurott, the Formidable Pokémon.

"Go! Swellow!" yelled Michael, tossing his Pokéball to release the Swallow Pokémon. "Fly!" Swellow appeared in the air, and immediately began to ascend even higher.

"Hydro Cannon!" Axel shouted. Ken roared, and water swirled into a sphere at the tip of his blade head. He blasted it at Swellow at alarming speed. Swellow tried to dodge, but to no avail. She nearly spiraled out of the air, but quickly recovered and flew at Ken, striking him backward.

"Swellow, use Heat wave!" yelled Michael. Swellow began to flap her wings generating hot winds, and then blasted them at Ken, but the flames were extinguished with a Hydro Pump. "Aerial Ace!" Michael continued. With one swift strike, Swellow attempted to hit Ken-but then the Formidable Pokémon unleashed his _own_ Aerial Ace, and the two cancelled each other out. "Sky Attack!" Swellow began to glow with a white light, but Ken jumped into the air and poured water down in a waterfall before she could finish this.

Swellow flapped her wings again and sent a slashing wind at Ken, which the Formidable Pokémon dodged, then rushed at Swellow with water surrounding him, crashing hard into the Swallow Pokémon. "Scald!" Axel commanded. Ken blasted a stream of heated water at Swellow, burning her. Wings shining with a metallic light, Swellow charged at Ken, but he parried each of her strikes.

Ken suddenly lost his footing and was sent flying back, and Swellow began to pursue the Formidable Pokémon, shining with a dark energy. But Ken saw her coming, lowered his head fired a beam of freezing light from his head blade which kept Swellow far away. "Okay, this is taking too long. Wait a sec! I know how to take care of this problem!" Michael grinned. "Swellow, WHIRLWIND!"

"Oh, CRAP! Ken! Ice Beam!" Axel ordered. Ken lowered his head and fired another beam of pale light which struck Swellow just as she flapped her wings and sent a gust of wind which blew Ken away, back into his Pokéball. Immediately, Axel's other Pokéball activated, sending out a Chikorita. "So Fleur was dragged out..." Axel muttered. Fleur also looked a bit confused as to why she suddenly appeared there.

"Ha. A Chikorita? This should be easy, considering she isn't evolved," Michael bragged. "Swellow, attack with A-"

"Toxic!" Axel declared almost automatically. Fleur sent spinning orbs of poisonous energy at the Swallow Pokémon, and Swellow screeched in pain from the toxins. "Now Ancient Power!" Axel continued, as the Chikorita sent shining rocks from the ground flying at Swellow. "Leaf Storm!" Axel ordered, and Fleur swung her leaf around, sending a storm of leaves at Swellow. However, the Chikorita's power quickly diminished as more leaves flew.

"...okay, have NO idea what just happened," Michael muttered. "But anyway, Swellow! Aerial Ace!" The battered Swellow swooped down at Fleur with claws outstretched. But Fleur was prepared for this, and immediately shining rocks rose from the floor again, ramming Swellow. Then suddenly, Fleur glowed with a bright light, revealing her stats had been boosted. "Oh, no!" Michael panicked, realizing that Swellow was in a VERY bad place to be.

"Finish it!" Axel shouted, punching the air. "FRENZY PLANT!" The Leaf Pokémon let out a cry, and roots burst from the ground, spearing Swellow multiple times. Swellow shrieked and fell, unconscious now.

The referee blew his whistle and announced, "Swellow is unable to battle! Fleur wins!"

"Your Pokémon are really strong!" commented Michael, calling back Swellow.

"I know, right?" Axel grinned TOTALLY modestly (not). "But remember, this is just the start."

"Yeah-the start of my victory. Go, Metang!" yelled Michael, pressing the button and releasing the Pokémon.

_Metang? Didn't see that coming... _Axel thought. He wondered if he should switch Pokémon, but then decided against it. "Bring it on!" he shouted, confidently smiling.

* * *

_Somewhere outside Snowpoint City..._

Ash Ketchum groaned from the cold as he trudged up the snowy slopes towards Snowpoint. He pulled his jacket tighter around himself to protect himself from the cold. "While the rest of Sinnoh is warm, this place...ugh," he muttered.

Pikachu, on his shoulder, also huddled close and muttered something. "Yeah," Ash agreed, a bit shakily. "I don't see why he'd want to battle here at this time of year..."

Currently, he was on his way to Snowpoint to meet up with his old rival, Paul. They hadn't seen each other for a while, so they wanted to get together and have a battle.

But then Ash suddenly noticed something, as he continued up the path. "What the-what's going on over there?" he asked. Pikachu looked where he was pointing-and gasped. There was smoke coming from the place where Snowpoint should have been!

"Pikapi? Pikapikapikachu?" Pikachu asked, worried.

"I don't know, Pikachu. Let's go check it out!" Ash replied, dashing in the direction of the smoke. _Hope everyone's alright...but who did this?_

* * *

_Again with the Battle Tower..._

"Niko, use Volt Tackle!" yelled Axel, thrusting his hand out for emphasis.

"Take this!" Niko shouted, releasing tons of volts. His opponent, a Sceptile, watched in shock as Niko spiraled at him, but then raised his arm, merging his leaves into two blades and slashing at Niko. However, the Mouse Pokémon suddenly grabbed his arm and swung around it, kicking Sceptile in the face and discharging all the volts. Niko dropped to the ground as Sceptile crashed next to him, unconscious. "VICTORY!" the Pikachu cheered.

"Sceptile is unable to battle! Niko wins!" the referee guy shouted. "The winner is Tower Tycoon Axel!"

Axel breathed a sigh of relief; it had been an intense fight. Fleur couldn't win against Metang, but used Leech Seed to fight for a bit more. From there, Ken picked up where she left off and defeated the Iron Claw Pokémon. Unfortunately, Sceptile had shown up, and despite Ice-type moves, Ken could not defeat him. Niko had come in afterwards, and had utterly destroyed Sceptile. "Sorry, Michael. Better luck next time," he sighed.

"Yeah, okay," Michael muttered, obviously not pleased by his loss. "Well, I'd better go now." He began to head for the exit.

At this moment, a guy walked into the room and headed to the spectator stands. "Hi," he greeted.

"Hi," Axel replied. Then he suddenly went up to the guy and gave him a (totally fake) battle entry brochure. "Sir, just sign here, here, here, initial here, sign here, here, here, and lastly, put your DOB, Reason For Challenging, and Why You Are Cool. Failure to complete this within five minutes will result in...A PIE IN THE FACE!" The last words were said in a very dramatic tone to freak the guy out.

"Uh...what?" The guy was confused by everything Axel said, particularly because all this was said in the span of 5 seconds. Niko facepalmed at Axel's complete randomness.

Then Axel suddenly noticed Michael staring out the window in disbelief. "Wait, what the heck?" the trainer asked with a look of confused surprise.

Axel ran over to the window next to Michael. "What do you mean, what the heck-OMG WHAT THE HECK?" Both of them saw many armored men and women causing havoc in the Frontier, attacking facilities and people with their Pokémon.

"That armor...they could only be Cipher Peons! Oh, god, don't tell me Cipher's here?" Axel groaned. "Come on, Niko, we're going!" He dashed over to the elevator and slammed the button to go down to the ground floor.

"Hey, wait! What do I do?" asked Michael.

"Just…hide somewhere!" Axel shouted before the elevator closed. Michael muttered something and sat down in the stands next to that other guy.

Axel burst into the waiting room of the Battle Tower and found people already being attacked by the Cipher Peons' Pokémon. "Dude, TOTALLY not cool!" he shouted, bringing up his Pokéballs.

"THERE'S NIGHTBLAZER! GET HIM!" one of the Cipher Peons shouted, pointing at Axel. Immediately, all the attacks flew at Axel.

"AAAAAAAAAAAA HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP!" Axel screamed, rolling out of the way to avoid the assorted attacks. "Urgh, it's nice to see you guys again too...GET 'EM!" he shouted, tossing both his Pokéballs mid-roll. Fleur and Ken promptly unleashed Energy Balls and Hydro Pumps all around the room, smashing the Cipher Peons away...and also, everything else. "Uh...whoops," Axel muttered sheepishly, looking around the room. He actually ended up breaking even MORE of whatever else was in the waiting room than the Cipher Peons. "I'll have it fixed!" Axel called sheepishly, pressing buttons on (what was left of) the PC, transporting three Pokéballs, and running away before anyone could start screaming at him.

"Well, wasn't that a smashing performance," Niko muttered, a bit amused about how Axel tried to stop the Cipher Peons from damaging the Battle Tower, and yet did even more damage than _they_ did.

Fleur and Ken laughed about this as well. "I see what you did there," Ken laughed to Niko.

"Do me a favor, and SHUT UP," Axel growled, noticing Cipher Peons on the path ahead. Ken and Fleur rushed ahead to battle them. Suddenly, they noticed a Solarbeam zooming towards them. "Ken, use Hydro Pump-on the Solarbeam! Fleur, use your own Solarbeam!" Axel ordered. Ken nodded and blasted the Cipher Peons with water, but that water also scattered the Solarbeam, allowing Fleur to catch its light on her leaf, and blast the Cipher Peons with bright green light.

"AAAAAAHHH! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT!" they screamed, getting fried by the intense light.

"Sheesh, they yell too much," Pikachu growled, placing his hands over his ears.

"Really?" Axel asked innocently, ears covered by headphones. "I can't hear anything." Pikachu grumbled something and went back to zapping people. "Anyway, we'd better help the other Frontier Brains deal with Cipher's minions," Axel decided. "What do you think, guys?"

"I agree!" Pikachu replied, raising his hand for emphasis. Ken nodded as well.

"You think the other Frontier Brains are having trouble?" Fleur asked, concerned.

Axel shrugged. "We'll know when we get there." Immediately, another Cipher Peon suddenly burst out from behind him. "Get him!" Axel shouted. Ken howled and unleashed a Blizzard which froze the guy dead in his tracks. "Let's hope those guys stay there for a while," Axel muttered, recalling his Pokémon, as Niko jumped on his shoulder. "And who knows where else Cipher's wrath has struck?"

* * *

_In Snowpoint City..._

_Could my day be going any worse? _Candice thought to herself with a disgusted expression. A few moments ago, two men in weird armor came into the Gym and dragged her away, and as they went she could see more of them mugging people. It made her furious that they were forcing everyone to give up their Pokémon, but she could do nothing about it.

Presently, they brought her in front of the guy who apparently was in charge, since he was bossing everyone around anyway. "You found her? Good work," he complimented. Then he eyed her with amusement. "You, a Gym Leader?" he chuckled. "You're only a scrawny little girl."

"Shut your mouth!" Candice snarled at him. It was bad enough that she couldn't go anywhere and her city was being mowed down, but she had literally known this guy for all of 10 seconds and he was annoying the crap out of her already.

"Oh, you want to challenge me? Too bad you won't be doing anything while my men are there! Ha!" the moron laughed. Then he reached for her pocket. "Now I'll be taking your Pokémon..."

"Don't you dare!" Candice hissed, and as the armored guys were only holding her arms, her leg went up and kicked the boss hard in the face.

"Oh, that does it! Release her!" the boss roared with fury (and through a bloody nose). "I'm gonna rip her to shreds in a battle!"

"Challenge accepted." Candice replied, as her arms were released. She raised two Pokéballs and prepared to fight...

* * *

_Gym Leader Candice would like to battle!_

"Go! Weavile and Mamoswine!" Candice shouted.

"Go! Magneton and Misdreavus!" shouted the captain.

Candice immediately knew something was wrong, judging by the cold looks the two Pokémon were giving her. _Even for a loner, that's _really _extreme._ "Mamoswine! Earthquake!" she ordered. Mamoswine let out a roar and stomped the ground, causing it to shake violently.

"Ha! Magneton, Magnet Rise!" the captain laughed. Magneton used his magnets to rise away from the ground, and Misdreavus was levitating, so she wasn't hurt at all.

Candice wasn't discouraged at all. "Weavile! Faint Attack!" she shouted, and Weavile attacked without warning, blowing Misdreavus towards Mamoswine, who roared and, along with Weavile, called down a heavy rain of snow, trapping Misdreavus completely. However, Magneton fired a Thunderbolt at Weavile, then shot a flash of steely light at Mamoswine, buying enough time for the Screech Pokémon to escape.

"Now I've got you! Magneton, use Shadow Bolt! Misdreavus, use Shadow Crash!" the captain shouted.

Candice was stunned. She had _never_ heard of those moves in her life. But instantly, shadowy lightning and a massive wave of shadow crashed into Weavile and Mamoswine. Her two Pokémon were knocked out in one blow. "...return," she finally managed weakly. _But what just happened?_

"Now! Finish her! Use Shadow Bolt and Shadow Crash!"

"W-what?! I haven't even called out a Pokémon!" Candice protested, Weavile and Mamoswine's Pokéballs still in hand.

"That doesn't matter," the captain retorted. "You-a Gym Leader-are in the way of our goals, and we must eliminate you! WIPE HER OUT, MAGNETON! MISDREAVUS!"

To her dismay, Candice suddenly found herself paralyzed with fear, and slowly turned her head to see a Crobat staring at her with glowing eyes. _No...they even had a way to prevent me from escaping? _Her eyes darted back to the oncoming attacks. _Crap...sorry everyone..._

**BOOM!**

Candice was sure she'd been obliterated...and suddenly her eyes opened wide, because she hadn't. There were sparks everywhere, but she was unharmed. The Crobat lay on the ground, unconscious. "Hey! Get out of my way, punk!" the captain yelled.

Candice was surprised to see Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu in front of her, having deflected the attack with electricity. "A-Ash!" Candice shouted. "What are you doing here?"

Ash opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything before he suddenly had to dodge a blast of shadow. "You!" the guy yelled. "You're Ash Ketchum. I'm glade you came; now I can tear you to bits."

"I doubt you could do that if you tried," Ash replied, and Candice had to wonder if he was mocking him. "Your skills aren't exactly right for that kind of job."

"OH THAT DOES IT!" Golva hollered. "MAGNETON! SHADOW BOLT!" Magneton began to charge purple lightning again, but then suddenly was blasted with flames. "Wait, what?" Golva's eyes followed it to see an Infernape. "Infernape?"

Ash slowly drew out another Pokéball, and his face was VERY hard and cold. "_You'll_ be the one to pay-for blowing up Snowpoint City. Hope you've got insurance."

"Ash! Wait! This guy's really strong! I know you're strong too, but-" Candice began to argue.

"I've dealt with Cipher before, and I know how to beat them. Don't worry." Ash turned to face the Cipher Captain. "Hope you're good at fighting without as much of a major advantage of having Shadow Pokémon; or else you might not stand a chance."

* * *

_Cipher Commander Golva would like to battle!_

Magneton recovered from the flames, and glared with hate at Infernape, who stood ready to battle him and Misdreavus. "Go! Staraptor!" Ash shouted, tossing his Pokéball and sending out the Predator Pokémon. "Aerial Ace!"

Staraptor surged forward and slashed Misdreavus with his claws, then dodged Magneton's Shadow Bolt and unleashed Close Combat, striking Magneton many times. Magneton struck Staraptor again with a Shadow Bolt, causing the Predator Pokémon to fall. However, before Magneton could take advantage of this, Infernape's fists flew like bullets, barraging Magneton and forcing him away. Then Infernape surrounded himself with bright orange fire and smashed into Magneton with Flare Blitz, ignoring the flames that burned at himself.

"Nice moves! But strike all you want; there's no way you can defeat my Shadow Pokémon!" the captain laughed. "Wait-what the heck?" he yelled when he saw two Pokéballs zooming towards the two. An orange, claw-like aura flared out and enveloped the two Pokémon. Candice's eyes widened as the Pokémon zoomed into the Pokéballs.

"Yes, I probably couldn't defeat them, but I can steal them." Ash said. "I don't like stealing, but it's the least I can do. I can't let those Pokémon stay in _your_ hands." Candice and the Cipher Captain stared for a long moment at Ash's arm. There was a new armor on it, which looked strangely familiar for the Cipher Captain.

"Your Snag Machine? So there's the abominable device!" the captain exclaimed, first in surprise, then a look of triumph on his face. "Don't get cocky, though, 'cause I have others-" He sent out a Flareon, an Absol, a Lombre, and a Dugtrio, all of which were shadow.

Ash sighed and shook his head. "Do you never learn? Infernape, Flare Blitz!"

Infernape ran towards the Cipher Captain's Absol, orange flames whipping around him. He leaped over the Lombre's Water Gun attack, and then smashed headlong into Absol. Ignoring the recoil again, he opened his mouth and unleashed a stream of flames, overwhelming Absol.

Ash raised his hand (the one with the device on it). A Pokéball whirled into it, and then an orange light filled it. Then he threw the Pokéball at the Absol, pulling it in. Candice watched apprehensively as it shook once…twice…three times…then several sparkles emitted from the Pokéball.

"All those Pokéballs _caught_ a Pokémon that already belongs to a trainer?" Candice gasped.

"No!" Golva shouted. "Lombre, use Hydro Pump!" Water swirled around Lombre…but it was mottled purple.

"Staraptor, Brave Bird!" Ash shouted. Staraptor unleashed massive blue energy and smashed into Lombre. Ash threw another Pokéball at the Lombre, and it caught as well.

"Dugtrio, Rock Blast!" Golva shouted. Dugtrio generated a rock that was strangely shimmering with purple, and then blasted it out towards Staraptor. But then Infernape smashed it with his fist and smashed Dugtrio in the face. Another Pokéball thrown…another Pokémon caught. Brimming with rage, the Cipher Commander shouted, "Flareon, use Flare Blitz!" Flareon, a fiendish look in his eyes, generated dark red flames and rushed towards the two Pokémon.

_Dark red?_ Candice thought. _Is this what Shadow Pokémon can do for real?_

"Staraptor, return!" Ash suddenly shouted, pointing the Pokéball at the Predator Pokémon and pulling him back in. "Now go, Floatzel!" Floatzel came out, and unleashed a huge torrent of water, extinguishing the Flare Blitz and knocking the Flareon back. Then he surrounded himself with water and smashed into Flareon. Immediately following that, another Pokéball flew. The Flareon was sucked into the orange claw, and the ball rolled on the floor, flashing. And just like that, the Cipher Commander's entire team was stolen.

"Dang it!" he yelled, frustrated. "Why? Why do you interfere with us? Ash Ketchum!"

"That's because you and Cipher are evil," replied Ash. "Pokémon training is all about making your Pokémon stronger while being friends with them. You don't value Pokémon one bit. You make them all heartless fighting machines. That's why I try to stop you."

"Well, you won't try anymore!" the Commander yelled, running towards Ash. Not flinching, Ash held up his hand (the one with the Snag Machine), moved it back, and then thrust it out.

**KA-BLAMM!**

The Cipher Commander was sent flying out of Snowpoint, blasted out by the wake of Ash's palm thrust. Candice watched him fly off, shocked. "What on Earth is that?"

"It's the Snag Machine. Those Pokémon are corrupted into heartless, emotionless machine-like fighters, and this lack of feeling makes them exceptional at fighting. I use this to take them and turn them back into regular Pokémon. It's not my style, but we can't really let them stay corrupted," Ash replied.

Candice considered this. "You're right. But how did you know they were all shadow?"

"He mentioned that the first two were shadow, but for the rest, I just sensed their aura."

Deciding not to ask about how he could sense Aura, Candice looked around. "The Cipher Peons are still on the loose. You think you could help me take them down?"

"Is there really an answer for that?" Ash replied, alreday walking away to combat them. "Let's go!"

* * *

_Back at the Battle Frontier..._

A Cipher Peon tried to have his Quagsire use Earthquake, but Axel had already noticed. "Fleur! Solar Beam!" he shouted.

Fleura whirled and blasted a beam of green light from her leaf. "Nailed him!" she shouted cheerfully. "Did I do great, Axel?"

"Just wonderfully," Axel replied, bending down and patting her on the head. Then he heard shouts from behind and pointed. "Ken! Blizzard!" Ken blasted a Blizzard attack and iced the Cipher Peons over, ensuring they wouldn't be blowing anything else up. "There we go!" Axel breathed a sigh of relief. "Ken, Fleur, return!" He turned to his colleague, Thorton, the Factory Head. "Alright, Thorton, this area's clear now."

"Thanks," Thorton replied, giving him a thumbs-up. "But we definitely have to let the Pokemon League know about this. Go to the Gym Leaders, Champion and Elite Four and warn them about what's coming."

"Can you guys handle the rest of whatever happens here?" Axel asked.

"We'll be just fine. The Battle Factory has a bunch of strong Pokémon in there," Thorton grinned. "Now go! We can't let these guys run around unchecked like we did Team Galactic."

"Right," Axel replied. He jumped onto his motorcycle, grabbing Niko and starting it up immediately. "We'll head straight to the Pokémon League," he decided. "This is something all of them will have to get involved in!"

* * *

_Oreburgh Mine..._

The air felt thick and full of dust. Roark mopped his forehead, feeling the heat. _We're going deeper and deeper,_ he thought, tired. _Eventually it's going to be too deep for us to dig anymore safely..._ Ignoring the pain, he helped cart more of the coal up to the conveyor belts up to the surface.

Things were getting worrisome, though. Because the mines extended so deep, now the conveyor belts were getting expensive to maintain. And if a cave-in occurred while miners were down here...everything would be a disaster for Oreburgh. They'd have to take even greater care while mining.

At this moment, he suddenly heard the sounds of a Shadow Ball being fired. Roark suddenly felt his spine go cold; it could very well cause a collapse. "Sorry, could you guys take the load without me for a bit?" he asked quickly. The workers barely had time to nod when he ran over to where he heard the Shadow Ball. "Hey! That's dangerous at this de-"

But Roark had to stop. There was a Dusknoir, and next to him was a fallen Zubat. The Dusknoir's trainer was a teenage boy with green hair and eyes. His T-shirt and cargo pants were also green, and he had a yellow backpack. "Oh, hey Roark, what's up?" he asked.

"Ben? Didn't expect to see you here," Roark commented. "But what are you doing all the way down here?"

"Well, I thought because Oreburgh Mine was deepening, I could explore any new caverns that appeared," Ben replied, grinning. "Just cause I can."

"Well, yeah, I see what you mean. But just be careful; you could start a cave-in with your Pokémon's attacks if you mess up! And then you'd be trapped, and I'm not sure if we could help you," Roark warned. With that, he headed back to work, waving a goodbye to Ben over his shoulder.

But it wasn't long before a worker came to Roark with an excited face. "We found something strange in Tunnel 3, sir! It's some kind of altar or something! You gotta see it!" Fascinated, Roark followed the worker down the tunnel.

But they never saw it.

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

Roark and the worker stopped short when they heard the noise. "We don't use explosives, do we?" the worker asked. "Then why did that just happen?"**  
**

"I don't know who decided to use explosives here, but there's only one thing that can mean," Roark replied grimly. "RUN!"

They had barely taken a step when cracks started to appear in the ceiling. Then rocks began to pour down on Roark. The Gym Leader looked up frantically. "Go! Aggron!" he shouted desperately, and the Iron Armor Pokémon appeared just in time to catch a falling rock. But more stones poured from the ceiling. "Rampardos, you too!" Roark shouted over the rumble, tossing another Pokéball.

Rampardos caught another rock and smashed it with his head. Aggron fired a beam of freezing light at the ceiling, keeping the rocks from collapsing for just a second, giving Roark and the worker enough time to run.. "We can't keep this up forever," Roark muttered. Suddenly, another HUGE rock fell, and Rampardos was too busy to notice. Roark shouted in surprise, but Aggron grabbed it and tossed it away.

Suddenly, a Salamence was above them, a green barrier extending from it around them. On top of the Salamence was Ben! "Roark! What's going on?!" he demanded over the din. "Why would you use explosives? You told me some of the rock wasn't stable!"

"The workers didn't!" Roark shouted back, as Rampardos and Aggron crushed the boulders in front of them. "Someone else must have done it! But who, I wouldn't know..."

"We can ponder that question later!" Ben replied, standing up. "But for now, we need to hurry and get out of here!" He pointed two more Pokéballs. "Empoleon! Infernape! We need your help!" The Emperor Pokémon and Flame Pokémon had barely even left their Pokéballs and already were attacking the rocks in front with steely fins and lightning-fast punches and kicks.

"Are any of the tunnels collapsed?" Roark asked, squinting off into the distance. It was hard to see even with Infernape's bright flame, and he still couldn't see from the falling rocks when he switched on the lamp on his hard hat.

"How should I know? We were both on the lower levels!" Ben retorted, grabbing Roark and the worker and pulling them onto Salamence's back just before a rock smashed down nearby. "But this is gonna be a wild ride. Empoleon, Infernape, return!"

Roark wondered what Ben was doing, but quickly recalled his Pokémon as well. "Why did you do that?" he was about to ask, but the words never fully came out before Salamence rocketed through the tunnels at high speed. Ben and Salamence looked forward with a grim expression, knowing that one collision would spell doom for them.

Salamence suddenly fired a Hyper Beam, clearing the rocks for a few moments and allowing him to race through a tight corridor without much trouble. "We should almost be there, right?" Ben asked. "The next tunnel shou-OH CRAP!" The tunnel he was about to turn into was blocked! Salamence made a U-turn, but more rock had fallen, squeezing the area Salamence could fly freely in. "Almost there, Salamence..." Ben growled.

"Wait! What's that?" Roark gasped, pointing at a sparking piece of metal in the rubble. The two realized it was part of the conveyor belt system! Scanning the area hard, Roark spotted another one going up another tunnel. "Hurry! That way!" he shouted, pointing.

Salamence threw out a leg and caught onto a stalactite, pulling himself into a tight turn to avoid another rock. The Dragon Pokémon, weary, surged on for a few final meters and collapsed...in an ice-coated tunnel. "Wait...ice?!" Ben muttered, looking around. The cracks had all been frozen over by ice, and in an expert way; nothing was breaking. "Who could have done this?" Ben wondered, recalling Salamence and walking across the cold floor.

Roark shrugged, and looked at the frozen conveyor belt. "It's going to take a while to repair this..." he sighed. "I suppose we'll have to literally start all over again."

"Never mind that," Ben comforted, patting him on the shoulder. "You already dug the tunnels; it won't take as long." His voice suddenly trailed off when he thought he heard shouting noises. "Hey, did your workers do this because they were trying to find you?"

"I didn't know any workers with Ice-type Pokémon," Roark replied, shrugging. "But then who could have done it?"

Ben and Roark had no time to ponder, because then the voices became louder, and then two armored men arrived on the scene. "What the-?! What are you doing here?" they shouted.

"I should be asking you that," Roark replied, gazing warily at their outfits. "What kind of getup is that? And who are you, anyway?"

Ben narrowed his eyes at them. _I feel like I should know who these guys are...who were they? _"You act like we shouldn't be here, and yet Roark is the supervisor of this mine," he noted. "So how can you act that way?"

"It's not safe to be in here," one of the armored guys replied. "After all, there was just an earthquake, and-"

"Earthquake? Those were clearly EXPLOSIVES!" Ben suddenly raised his voice, growing increasingly enraged by those guys. "Any explanation for THAT?"

"Sigh...I guess we've been discovered already," the other armored guy muttered. A sneer crossed his face next. "We are Cipher! We're here for something in your mine, Gym Leader!"

"What would you want in here?" Roark demanded, more than a little annoyed at being called "Gym Leader."

"That's not for you to know," the Cipher Peon replied automatically. "But since you're the only opposition we have, we'll just crush you right now!" He raised a Pokéball and released a Frosslass, while his partner sent out a Mightyena. "Problem?"

"I'm just fine with that," Roark replied, sending out his Aggron. "My concern is if _you_ have a problem."

Ben stepped up next to Roark. "Shall we do a tag battle?" he asked, and was answered with a quick nod. "Go, Dusknoir!" Dusknoir appeared and immediately charged up a Shadow Ball, blasting Frosslass's Ice Shard to pieces. Annoyed, the Snow Land Pokémon retaliated with an Ominous Wind, slashing Dusknoir. The Gripper Pokémon responded with two fists to the face-one flaming and one surrounded with ghostly energy. Ruthlessly continuing, dark energy gathered in front of Dusknoir, and he fired it at Frosslass, downing her in seconds.

"What?! Already?!" the Cipher Peon shouted in disbelief. "Well, whatever. Go, Rapidash! Flame Wheel!" The Fire Horse Pokémon appeared, and immediately generated flames around himself, galloping at Aggron. However, a green barrier separated them, and then Aggron caused rocks to enclose Rapidash. Then Aggron sent small stones flying at Rapidash, striking critical points and doing huge damage. "Rapidash, Flamethrower!" Rapidash unleashed flames from his horn, burning Aggron.

"Dusknoir, stop Rapidash!" Ben shouted, but then Mighteyena bit down hard on Dusknoir, who angrily unleashed a Focus Blast, but Mightyena swiftly dodged and fired a Dark Pulse, causing Dusknoir to stumble. Then Mightyena leapt at Dusknoir with another Crunch. Desperately, Dusknoir began to fire many Focus Blasts, overwhelming the Bite Pokémon. Then Dusknoir pointed at Rapidash and fired a Shadow Ball, disrupting the Flamethrower. However, Mightyena recovered and bit down again, this time with electrified fangs.

Aggron shot Mightyena with Ice Beam, freezing the Bite Pokémon. Now free, Dusknoir charged up another Shadow Ball and shot the Fire Horse Pokémon, but Rapidash suddenly broke out and dodged, then fired a bright green laser which missed. However, the light began to ricochet around the ice-covered cave, and Dusknoir had to frantically dodge the bouncing Solarbeam. Aggron Protected himself, and stopped the Solarbeam by doing that.

Rapidash tried to jump at Aggron, but the Iron Armor Pokémon dodged, and Rapidash slid across the icy floor into the wall, dazed. Aggron and Dusknoir wasted no time and attacked with Stone Edge and Rock Slide, causing Rapidash to faint. A Torkoal was sent out next, who unleashed a huge cloud of smog. Dusknoir roared from the poison, but Aggron was unaffected and marched up to Torkoal, preparing a Rock Tomb. However, then Torkoal blasted lava at ALL Pokémon, causing them to faint immediately.

Ben muttered something and called back Dusknoir. "Should I use...?" he began to wonder, and then suddenly shook his head. "I'll save that one for last. Go, Empoleon!" Torkoal's Flamethrower completely missed as the Emperor Pokémon swiftly moved out of the way and unleashed a raging torrent of water from his beak, defeating Torkoal almost instantly.

Roark sent out a Golem, and the other Cipher Peon brought out a Skarmory. Skarmory slashed Golem with his wings, while Golem tried to strike him, but his Rock-type moves were ineffective. However, Roark was undaunted. "Always prepared," he muttered with a smile. "Golem! Use Fling!"

"Fling? What will that d-OH CRAP!" the Cipher Peon shouted when Golem brought out a heavy Iron Ball and threw it at Skarmory, who buckled from the weight, landing on the ground. Wasting no time, Golem called out an Earthquake, damaging Skarmory and the only-just sent out Relicanth. Ben saw the Earthquake, and quickly called Empoleon back before it could hit, then sent out a Torterra, which unleashed his own Earthquake, damaging Skarmory and Relicanth more, while Golem Protected himself just in time.

However, Relicanth brought out a giant wave of water (where he got this water I WILL NEVER KNOW), and Golem was washed out in one hit (not helped that he had taken lots of damage from Skarmory). Torterra braved the hit, and retaliated with a storm of leaves from his tree, defeating Relicanth. Ben was a bit surprised about how well these guys battled, but continued on. "Torterra! Earthq-" he began, but then suddenly heard a cracking, and then suddenly the ice above their heads broke! "RUN!" Ben shouted, grabbing Roark and recalling Torterra, then hurrying outside. The Cipher Peons also decided it was time to run and dashed away as well.

They all bolted through the entrance of the mine just in time, as rocks poured from the ceiling to block the tunnel. "No! How will we get in there now?" the Cipher Peon shouted in dismay.

"That's the _least_ of your problems," Roark replied, pointing at the police. "If you try to make an effort to escape, we can just take you on again."

As the Cipher Peons were taken into custody, Ben suddenly got a call on his Pokétch. "Yeah?" he asked.

"Hey Ben, this is Flint. Could you come back to the Pokémon League quickly? A guy called Axel Nightblazer's here, and he wants to meet yo-"

"Axel?!" Ben repeated excitedly. "Okay! I'll come right away!" He sent out his Salamence and jumped on, flying away. "Been so long since we last saw each other," Ben smiled. "Wonder how he's doing? But..." then he looked back at the Cipher Peons and his face darkened. "I have a feeling we'll see more of these guys in the future..."

* * *

_Near Canalave City..._

Substitute _Shinigami_ (Death God) Kurosaki Ichigo was _very_ annoyed. He was racing through the clouds with his friends, Abarai Renji and Kuchiki Rukia. They and their friends actually had gotten some time in for a vacation (very much needed for Renji and Rukia; _Shinigami_ usually don't take breaks, and to boot, they were very high-ranking). But then, leave it to orders from the Soul Society to ruin everything.

"So remind me what we're doing again?" he sighed. "You guys didn't tell me any of the details very well."

"Shadow Pokémon have been spotted in Sinnoh," Rukia replied, and Ichigo's eyes jolted wide. "We're here to investigate...although you know what else is coming.

"Cipher," Ichigo muttered grimly. "Hate those guys. Even after what happened in Hoenn six years ago, they still come back again and again..."

"Well, that can't be helped," Renji replied, shrugging. "They've been around since before AERON was born! See how long it's taking them to die?"

"We're almost there," Rukia interrupted, pointing. "It should be that...whoa." How no one had noticed it before they would never know. It was a huge two-story building which an almost maze-like structure. "Didn't think they could make something like this so fast," Rukia commented in surprise.

"Well, great. What are we supposed to do?" Ichigo asked, already feeling his shoulders sag from dismay. _If we have to destroy this thing, that could take ages..._

"Well, we were only asked to scout," Renji replied, although he didn't sound very optimistic either. "Maybe we should run for it, though. I'm starting to get creeped out..."

Ichigo didn't say anything, but he was also freaked out. He could feel a giant _reiatsu_ from below them which felt almost suffocating. It was even worse than that of Ulquiorra Cifer's _Resurrección: __Segunda Etapa_ (Resurrection: Second Stage), and already that felt as though an entire ocean were above you. What could this be? _Are there that many Shadow Pokémon there, or is it something completely different?_

For several minutes, no words were spoken between the trio. Then finally, Renji sighed. "I don't think Soul Society would be very happy if we came back empty-handed. Let's go inside."

Sneaking in was hard, because it wouldn't be very easy to slip in unnoticed with Cipher's security. What's more, they had technology which would help them see _Shinigami_, so Cipher Peons could actually _attack_ them. The _Shinigami_ finally found an unlocked entrance and slipped in. They quietly walked through the halls, careful not to trigger any alarms. "Why is Cipher so infuriatingly hard to defeat?" Ichigo grumbled.

Rukia shrugged. "Well, the previous leader was a genius...an insane one, that is. You wouldn't think he'd leave his work in bad hands."

"Don't remind me," Ichigo groaned, and quickened his pace...and almost immediately stepped into the view of a camera.

**ALART!**

"First, why is it saying 'Alart'?" Renji asked, sweatdropping. Neither Rukia nor Ichigo were able to provide an answer. "And second, ICHIGO YOU ARE AN IDIOT."

"Hey, how should I have known that camera was there?!" Ichigo demanded.

"Quit arguing!" Rukia snapped, and suddenly ducked backwards to dodge a flying Beedrill who X-Scissored the area her head had been a few seconds ago. "Crap, they're already here!"

Already, Cipher Peons were pouring into the hallway. "Hey! What are you people doing here?! You asking for a fight?"

"If you want a fight, I can give you one! Howl, _Zabimaru_ (Snake Tail)!" Renji retorted, raising his sword over his head. As his other hand swept over its length, it began to transform into a blade comprised of six segments, each one adorned with a pick-like blade and bigger than the previous one. Renji swung _Zabimaru_ down, and it suddenly lenghtened, whipping all the Cipher Peons.

"Argh, now he's going in and fighting them...I guess Dance, _Sode no Shirayuki_ (Sleeve's White Snow)!" shouted Rukia, twirling her sword around. The entire sword suddenly turned white, and the guard became a hollow circle, while a ribbon began to extend from the pommel. One step forward, and Rukia suddenly appeared behind the Cipher Peons, the ribbon weaving between them. Suddenly, ice froze over several of them.

"Let's go, _Zangetsu _(Slaying Moon)!" Ichigo boldly shouted, pulling the ABSOLUTELY HUGE blade off his back with a silver edge and hilt, and black hilt wrappings. A small chain dangled from the pommel, which Ichigo grabbed with one hand, letting go of _Zangetsu's _hilt. He began to swing the massive blade over his head several times, then threw his arms out, bringing down all the Cipher Peons in front of him like bowling pins. Catching the hilt again, Ichigo blocked the attack from a Bisharp and struck back, knocking the Sword Blade Pokémon out in one hit.

A Druddigon was sent out, who swiped a tail coated with swirling water at the _Shinigami_. Without hesitating, Rukia stabbed the ground four times in front of herself, then pointed her blade at the Cave Pokémon. "_Tsugi no Mai:_ _Hakuren!_ (Next Dance: White Ripple)" A wave of ice burst from the tip of _Sode no Shirayuki _and froze Druddigon on the spot, as well as the Cipher Peons behind him. Noticing more Cipher Peons moving to surround her, Rukia twirled around them several times. "_Some no Mai: Tsukishiro!_ (First Dance: White Moon)" She leaped away at the last second as a white circle etched itself into the ground underneath the Cipher Peon's feet, and suddenly a pillar of ice appeared on the circle, freezing everything above it.

Ichigo raised _Zangetsu _over his head as began to glow bright blue. "_Getsuga...Tensho! _(Moon Fang Heaven's Piercer!)" he shouted, swinging it down. A huge wave of blue energy burst from the blade, blasting the Cipher Peons into unconsciousness...and taking away a huge portion of the wall. "Oops," Ichigo muttered with no remorse in his tone at all.

"Well, now you've made something pretty darn noticeable!" Renji growled, observing the giant section ripped out. "Only one thing to do...RUN!"

"I don't think Soul Society would want us to go empty-handed, though," Rukia argued. "Let's keep searching this place-but don't linger too long in one area!"

* * *

_The Pokémon League..._

"What?! Cynthia's disappeared?!"

"That's right," Flint replied, scratching his head. "We don't know what happened to her, but she disappeared this afternoon without a trace."

Axel and Ben looked at each other a bit nervously. "You don't think this is connected to Cipher's appearance, do you?" Ben asked.

Axel shrugged. "I wouldn't put it past them. Though what they intend to do with Cynthia is something which would be a mystery even to me."

"You'd best try to find her. From what you've said, it sounds like Cipher doesn't exactly have her best interests at heart," Flint suggested.

"Come with me, Ben," Axel immediately offered. "Just like the old days with Team Galactic, they won't be able to stop our combined power."

"Okay, hold on, I'll get my motorcycle," Ben replied, and headed out to a shed outside the building and opened the door just a crack. Immediately, the shed suddenly collapsed. "NO!" Ben screamed in horror. He dug through the debris, and found to his relief that his bright green and red motorcycle was still intact. "Phew." Ben muttered. That's when he noticed. "No! The paint got scratched!"

Axel rocked back on his heels. "You make a big deal about it just because the _paint got scratched_?!"

"Oh, whatever." Ben sighed and tried to pulled it out of the shed wreck. "Argh, this thing is heavy..."

"Oh my god, Ben," Axel groaned. "Well, it can't be helped." He threw up a Pokéball. "Come on, Leo!" A Lucario burst out of the Pokéball and walked over to the wreckage. He pulled most of it off the motorcycle and threw it off somewhere.

The motorcycles zoomed off, and out of the Pokémon League. But as soon as they left, they noticed helicopters in the sky. The helicopters were armed with somewhat poorly concealed missile launchers and laser blasters, and were piloted by two Cipher Peons each.

"Just wonderful. Ciphercopters!" Axel groaned. When Ben looked at him in confusion, he explained, "They're special helicopters made by Cipher. They're used to capture Pokémon to be made into Shadow Pokémon. And with all the artillery on them, you can guess what other purpose they serve."

"That's not good," Ben commented. "We'd better do something about them." He raised a Pokéball and pressed the button, sending out his Salamence. "After all, what would happen if they just went and caught all the Pokémon without any qualms?"

"Exactly! Niko, Thunderbolt!" Axel ordered. Niko stood on the handlebars of the motorcycle as he began to charge electricity, and then he unleashed a huge amount of volts. It struck one Ciphercopter, knocking it out of the air.

Then another one swooped down. This time, Niko jumped off the motorcycle. "VOLT TACKLE!" he cried, bursting into, um, electricity. He blew a sparking hole in the Ciphercopter as it passed by. It exploded shortly afterwards. Niko landed on the motorcycle and grinned proudly.

However, there were a LOT of Ciphercopters, and they all were firing missiles at the motorcycles. Axel and Ben had to carefully dodge each one, but it was tough. "We can't make do with just Niko!" Axel decided. "Go, Hiita! Leo!" He pointed both Pokéballs into the air, and a Ninetales and Leo burst from a flash of red light, howling. Fangs burning, the Ninetales leaped upon one of the Ciphercopters and slashed it with them, then jumped away as the Ciphercopter fell in flames. Leo charged up an azure blue sphere in his hand and threw it at the Ciphercopter, which was struck in the rotor blades and spiraled out of the air.

_Well this is a fine mess you've gotten into today,_ Hiita commented, as she and Leo landed smoothly and started to run alongside the motorcycles, never stumbling once. _I suppose they're back to their old tricks again?_ Leo said nothing, but warily gazed at the Ciphercopters.

"What do you think the answer is to that?" Axel retorted, popping a wheelie and sharply turning down a fork in the path to avoid a missile. Hiita and Leo nimbly leaped over it, and Ben was completely out of the blast range. "Hiita! Heat Wave! Leo! Dark Pulse!" Axel ordered. Leo raised his hands, and dark energy gathered in his hands, which he blasted at a Ciphercopter, blasting it to smithereens.

Hiita gathered flames in her mouth, then leaped into the air and shot them out, striking all the Ciphercopters and causing them to fall, flaming to the ground. _Now _that's_ skill_, she thought confidently. Leo gave her a glare, but still said nothing.

"I'm gonna help too!" Ben declared, tossing two Pokéballs into the air. "Salamence, Dusknoir, go!" Salamence and Dusknoir flew out and blasted meteors and blasts of darkness at the Ciphercopters, downing them quickly. "Aerial Ace! Go!" Ben shouted. Salamence swooped at a Ciphercopter, but a net entangled him. With noticeable difficulty, he slashed it to pieces with his claws.

Next, one of the copters fired a red bolt of energy. Leo swiftly dodged, but Hiita was struck by it, and she fainted on the spot. Axel growled and recalled her. "Stun bolts. Totally unfair," he growled, then popped a wheelie to avoid another bolt. "Leo, Bone Rush!" Leo pulled his hands apart, revealing a bone composed of aura. Leaping between trees with Extreme Speed, he deflected the stun bolts, then jumped above the Ciphercopter, and brought the bone down on the rotors, destroying them. The Aura Pokémon jumped away as the Ciphercopter fell to the ground, flaming.

Ben had to swerve away, but Axel continued on, body close to the motorcycle. Then he ramped over the wreck, sitting upright to spring up even higher. His spinning front tire crashed into a Ciphercopter, shearing it in half and causing the pilots to fall to the ground. Before another Ciphercopter could shoot at him, Axel thumbed buttons on his motorcycle, throwing tiny blue blasts of energy at the copter and knocking it away. "Timing is everything," Axel grinned to a baffled Ben as he landed.

"Um, right," Ben replied, sweatdropping. Then he saw another Ciphercopter training its missile launchers at the two. "Salamence! Draco Meteor!" he shouted. Salamence fired a meteor into the sky, which split, the fragments falling on most of the Ciphercopters, causing them to fall. One wreck fell in front of Axel and Ben, and they both had to drive over the wreck. As they went over it, they bumped into each other. "NO! THE PAINT GOT SCRATCHED AGAIN!" yelled Ben as if this would end the world.

"QUIT YELLING ABOUT _PAINT!_" groaned Axel in disgust. Suddenly, he saw another missile flying at them. "Look out!" he shouted. Axel zoomed away in a tight turn, going a different direction, as Ben drove the other way. The missile exploded behind them.

"This is taking too long. Niko, take over," Axel muttered. He jumped off the motorcycle, and Niko grabbed the controls. Suddenly, Axel's clothes melted into a very dark blue _Shikahusho_ (Shinigami uniform) with white socks and sandals, a sleeveless Captain's Haori with a kanji five on the back, and a sheathed dark blue and silver katana on his back. Axel unsheathed the sword, a fiendish smile crossing his face. "I'll show you my best Fan Service!"

Crossing his arms in front of his face, he brought his right arm back and threw his sword blade into the air. It boomeranged back at Axel from behind in a crescent moon-like projectile of silver light. Without turning, Axel extended his right arm outwards. The energy splashed across his arm, and solidified quickly into a gauntlet of hexagonal plates going back to his elbow, and up to his hand. "Rule over the midnight heavens!" Axel shouted as he spun around, and stood in a battle-ready pose with his right arm in front of his chest. A blade of silver energy flew from the plate on his wrist, sending brilliant silver-blue light around. _"Shiruba-Getsu_ (Silver Moon)!"

"Wait, WTF did he just do?" Ben gawked in surprise. Niko facepalmed at Axel's mention of Fan Service.

Axel raised his fist, which began to glow silver-blue. "_Tsukiren!_ (Moon Ripple)" He punched at the Ciphercopters and launched a silver wave, blasting them out of the sky. With much difficulty, Niko and Ben swerved to avoid the falling wrecks. Axel landed on the motorcycle again smoothly, his clothes melting back into his normal ones. "I'll tell you about it as we go," he replied to Ben's unasked question. "It's a very long story."

"Um, right..." Ben muttered. He had no idea what just happened, but only now had he realized that Axel had a side he never saw before...and this fight would show him this other side in full.


	3. Shinigami vs Imperial Army of Idiots

Three more Shinigami were dashing through the clouds.

A black haired girl called Hinamori Momo, lieutenant of the Soul Society's 5th company.

A blond haired guy called Kira Izuru, lieutenant of the 3rd company.

A silver haired guy called Hitsugaya Toshiro, captain of the 10th company. (He's so young! I think so, anyway...but he's really short!)

"So, what are our orders, Izuru?" asked Momo. "I don't know…these instructions are impossible to read…" Izuru muttered. "You're looking at them upside down!" yelled Toshiro, yanking the orders out of his hands. "Oh," said Izuru. "Whoops. Heh heh.

"Okay, so then, our orders are to investigate a strange, dark aura."

"I don't know about that," said Momo. "I don't sense anything."

"We have to be sensing something," said Toshiro. "Otherwise, this is some kind of con."

"Why would the _captain-commander_ con us?" asked Izuru.

"Beats me," said Toshiro.

BOOOM!

"AAAAAH!" They heard suddenly. "Momo!" yelled Toshiro, turning. (Toshiro really cared about her.)

He saw Momo falling, with green energy dissipating all around her. _It was an Energy Ball!_ he thought.

Toshiro zoomed after her, clearly looking for the attacker. "Captain Hitsugaya, don't be so reckless!" yelled Izuru. Toshiro ignored him. "Awww…." groaned Izuru.

Toshiro, unfortunately, had lost sight of Momo. "Where are they?" he wondered. Then suddenly, a HUGE amount of Cipher Peons came. "Who the heck are you?!" they yelled.

"Dang!" muttered Toshiro. "Okay then, I guess there's no way out."

He raised his sword. _Sorry, Momo, but I can't get to you right now. Hopefully you'll still be all right when I get there,_ he thought. "Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyorinmaru!" he yelled. (Hyorinmaru means Ice ring in Japanese.)

The serpent-dragon of water and ice charged, freezing several Cipher Peons. "Aah! It's a Shinigami! He's at Captain level!" They brought out their Pokémon. A Staraptor, a Garchomp, a Tyrannitar, a Rapidash, a Nidoking, and a Leafeon were some of the Pokémon brought out.

Toshiro drenched/froze them all. "You all just _had_ to pick Pokémon that were weak against water or ice, didn't you?" he asked.

The dudes just retreated. Toshiro ran after them. "I won't let you get away!" he yelled.

Momo, meanwhile, was having a bad day.

Her head hurt from taking an unseen Energy ball to the head, and now a Venasaur had used Vine Whip to tie her to a tree. Extremely tightly. It sucked.

Momo was struggling against the vines. "Let me go!" she yelled. "What have you got against me?!!"

"You're a Shinigami," replied a Cipher Peon. "They kept interfering with our plans. You're the one we're going to take it out on."

Momo knew there was only one way out. She started to recite the incantation for a kidō (Demon way) that could get her out of this fix.

"_Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!"_ she yelled. "Huh?" asked the Cipher guy. "Hadō 31! Shakkahō! (Way of Destruction 31, Shot of Red Fire)" she yelled, pointing at the vines. They burnt up and fell. Unfortunately, she also accidentally set fire to her shikahusho in the process. "Oh, not good." she muttered. After extinguishing the fire (a.k.a. stop, drop, and roll), she picked up her sword. She pointed it at the dudes, and then decided to release it. "Snap! Tobiume! (Flying Plum Tree)" she yelled.

"What the heck is that thing?!!" yelled the Cipher Peons.

Momo channeled her spirit energy into the blade, forming a blast. She fired it. The Cipher Peons were scattered all over the place like bowling pins (on fire).

"AAAAAAHHH! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT!" yelled the Cipher Peons. They ran away with their pants on fire.

Momo then suddenly noticed the Venasaur was moving. She blasted him with a fireball. The Venasaur fainted. Momo rolled her eyes and then dashed into the sky.

Toshiro was still bashing up the Cipher Peons.

Now many were frozen. Toshiro hadn't found Momo yet, though. "Where the heck is she?" he wondered.

That's when a Rapidash blasted him with fire. "Aah!" yelled Toshiro. He quickly extinguished the flames, but fire still was a major weakness.

Suddenly, Izuru jumped to his aid. "Raise your head, Wabisuke! (The apologizing one)" he yelled.

He struck the Rapidash. The Rapidash suddenly buckled and fell. "Rapidash?!!" yelled his owner.

"Wabisuke's power doubles the weight of anything it touches." Izuru explained.

The Cipher Peons knew it was time to run. They did.

Momo dashed up. "Toshiro!" she called.

Toshiro didn't pay attention. "Who were those strange people?" he wondered.


	4. Tanks for the shadows

Aeron, Anabel, and Aerin were standing on the edge of a plain. They saw a hovertank zooming across it. It bashed a random guy out of the way. "AAAH!" the guy yelled.

"Let's go see where that tank's going!" yelled Aeron.

"Hey, wait-" began Anabel. Too late. Aeron jumped off the side of the ledge they were standing on.

"That reckless idiot," muttered Anabel.

"Yeah. Guess I'll go too," said Aerin.

"Hey, wait-" began Anabel. Too late. Aerin had also jumped off the ledge.

"Sigh..." Anabel sighed. She didn't want to be left behind, so she also jumped off the edge.

They dashed across the plain after the tank. There weren't any Cipher Peons in their way, so they just kept dashing. Soon, they came to the tank, which had stopped and noticed them.

"All right, pilot, come out and show yourself!" yelled Anabel.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" yelled Aerin cheerfully.

"Wait," said Aeron. "Something's really wrong…"

Aeron was right. Suddenly, the side swung out, and an hand came out from the engine.

"Huh?!!" yelled Anabel.

The same thing happened to the other side. The cannons angled themselves downward. Legs came down and the tank stood up. The front armor plate came down a little, revealing eyes, which glowed purple. It wasn't a tank. It was a robot! He clashed his fists together, roaring.

"Who is he?" asked Aerin.

The robot towered over them, and said (in a robotic voice), "I am Galleom. I will defeat you."

"This sounds bad…" said Aeron.

"I am Galleom. I will defeat you. I am Galleom. I will defeat you I am Galleom. I will defeat you…" said Galleom.

"Huh?" said Anabel.

"…" the nonsensical Robot kept saying.

The team got more and more and more annoyed. Eventually…

"SHUT UP!" yelled Aeron, kicking Galleom in the chest.

"GOHHHH!" yelled Galleom. "GOHHHH! GOHHHH! GOHHHH! GOHHHGOHHHGOHHHGOHHH!"

"There is something **definitely** wrong with this robot," said Anabel.

"Do tell," said Aeron.

* * *

_Cipher Robot Galleom would like to battle!_

"Go! Metagross!" yelled Anabel.

"Rule over the raging heavens…" said Aeron. His sword began to change. "Tsubasa no Rai-oh! (Wings of the thunder king)"

"I will still defeat you!" yelled Galleom.

"I think his voice has been been fixed," said Aeron.

"I will still defeat! You I will still! Defeat you I will! Still defeat you I! Will still defeat you!"

"I think it's gotten worse…" said Anabel.

Aeron pointed his blade at the robot. He shot a blast of lighting, which coursed through the robot, making him fall over when it was finished. AGAIN.

"Metagross, use Meteor Mash!" yelled Anabel.

Galleom got up, drew his fist back, and countered meteor mash with a rocket punch.

"HE HAS A ROCKET PUNCH!!!!" yelled Anabel.

Galleom then stomped on Anabel. "OWWWW!" yelled Anabel.

Aeron stabbed Galleom, only to have his blade deflected in a shower of sparks.

"What? What is this thing made of?!!!" yelled Aeron.

Galleom then began jumping up and down. Aerin dodged between his legs a few times.

"Go! Starly!" Aerin called, throwing up the Pokéball. Starly came out and used Aerial Ace. Galleom whirled around…and around…and around…

"Kyaaa!! The weird robot's becoming a vacuum cleaner!" joked Aerin.

"I am not weird! I am not weird! I am not weird! I am not weird! I am not weird!"

Aeron then zoomed towards Galleom…and zoomed over him.

"WHAT?!!" yelled Aeron. Galleom was right underneath him…in Tank mode!

Aeron screeched to a halt on top of Galleom and stabbed downwards. Galleom roared, and shot numerous missiles.

"Metagross, use Hyper Beam!" yelled Anabel.

Metagross's Hyper Beam took out the missiles, and critically damaged Galleom. Galleom just charged forward in his tank mode.

They all dodged. "Hey…where'd he-" began Aeron.

Galleom DROPPED down on them. "AAAAHH!!" yelled Aeron.

He then got up in robot form, and launched missiles at them. They ran for it. No one would want to get hit by _that_.

Just when Galleom got ready to jump again, Anabel, who was getting _very_ annoyed by the robot, brought her hand back...

Aeron gaped. "No wa-"

KRAKK!

_It's a one hit KO! ^_^_

Galleom crashed back down onto the dirt. And didn't move.

"Yeah! We beat him! Yeaaaaaaah!" cheered Aerin.

That's when they heard a hiss, and noticed Galleom's head had opened up. In it was...

A BOMB!

"GASP! AAAAAH WE'RE GONNA DIE WE'RE GONNA DIE WE'RE GONNA DIE!" yelled Aerin.

Aeron waved his hand over an area, and a motorcycle virtualized there. Anabel and Aerin jumped on. They sped off as fast as

* * *

possible.

_3 minutes later..._

Boom.

I MEAN!

BOOOOOMM!

The plain was engulfed in a thick, purple murk.

"What...what is that stuff?" asked Anabel.

"Whatever it is, I DON'T want to find out," said Aeron. "Let's keep going!"

* * *

**Secret communication place:**

"Sir, our tank, codename Galleom, has been disabled."

"Was the experimental Corruption Bomb activated?"

"Yes, sir."

"Excellent. This world gets pulled more and more into my realm...the realm of SHADOW. This time, that petty Aeron Solo won't be able to stop us. Cipher will prevail!"

There was a peal of evil laughter. Who were these evil guys?


	5. Renji goes Bankai on idiots

"Hey…look."

Ichigo, Renji and Rukia were still sitting around in the Cipher base (or what was left in it anyway).

"Yeah, and this hover truck would be interesting because?" asked Renji, looking and seeing a hover truck in the distance.

"Where do you think it's going?" asked Rukia.

"Only one way to find out," said Ichigo. "Let's go!"

_Later__…_

Ichigo and Rukia had crashed into each other, and were arguing like nuts.

Renji noticed something coming. "Hey, guys…HEY! GUYS-"

A bunch of Cipher Peons suddenly piled up on Renji, and surrounded the group.

"Renji! Are you okay?!!" yelled Rukia.

"BANKAI :o!" yelled Renji.

There was a burst of energy, and it cleared to reveal his Bankai.

"Hihio Zabimaru! (King Baboon's Snake Tail)" yelled Renji.

"He's going bankai on idiots…" muttered Ichigo.

Renji slammed the Cipher Peons (and bit them) with Hihio Zabimaru.

The Cipher Peons sent out their Pokémon. A Rhyhorn, a Cranidos, a Buneary, a Metang, a Raichu, and a Vaporeon were some of them.

Renji just kept smashing them left and right.

Ichigo blasted them with Getsuga Tensho.

Rukia placed her palms in a certain way. "Hado 33! Sokatsui! (Way of Destruction 33, Blue Fire, Crash Down!)"

The Cipher Peons were now on fire, and still getting owned. Unfortunately, more kept coming.

"Shoot! When will they stop coming?!!" yelled Renji.

"I don't know! Let's just beat them up until they stop!" yelled Ichigo.

Rukia whirled Sode no Shirayuki around. "Some no mai…Tsukishiro. (First dance, White moon)"

A circle of white appeared underneath the Cipher Peon's feat. Rukia jumped away, and it flashed into a pillar of ice extending sky high. The Cipher Peons were trapped inside. Then the pillar shattered, and the Cipher Peons with it.

"Geez, Rukia, that was kind of brutal." said Ichigo.

"Just shut up and concentrate on not getting hit!" yelled Rukia.

_A few hours later…_

_ Oh yeah, P.S., don't ask about the :o or the XD. Read them sideways to make sense of them._

They were still fighting! XD

"They just keep coming!" yelled Renji.

"I know! They've been doing this for hours! You don't have to yell it out!" yelled Ichigo. He looked at all the Cipher Peons and sighed. "I guess there's no other way…"

He pointed his sword forward. "Bankai!" he yelled. There was a storm of black and red energy.

When it cleared, Ichigo wore a new shikahusho and held a black daito. "Bankai! Tensa Zangetsu!" he yelled.

Ichigo dashed towards the source of the Cipher Peons. He found the source- a dimentional gate.

"Renji! Rukia! We have to destroy the gate!" yelled Ichigo.

"Got it! Hikotsu Taiho! (Baboon bone cannon)" yelled Renji. Hihio Zabimaru's mouth glowed with intense red energy. It coursed through its body, and then left the mouth in a huge blast. After that, it crumbled into pieces.

"Hado 63! Soren Sokatsui! ( Way of destruction 63, Twin lotus Blue fire, crash down)" yelled Rukia. Twin blasts of blue fire zoomed out of her palms.

"Getsuga Tensho!" yelled Ichigo, blasting out a black wave with red outlines(YES, IT DID CHANGE. ).

All three attacks crashed through the Cipher Peons and into the gate, destroying it.

"Yeah! We did it!" yelled Ichigo.

"Now let's get back to following that truck!" yelled Renji.

"Okay! Let's go!!!" yelled Rukia.

_Meanwhile…_

Ash was still at Snowpoint City, and noticed that the Cipher Peons were coming back for their second charge. "They're coming!" he said.

"It's okay. We can take them," said Candice.

"Huh?" they suddenly asked, seeing something.

A Cipher Peon was carrying a huge, yet still handheld cannon.

"What is that cannon?!!" yelled Candice.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good…" said Ash.


	6. The Dawn of Corruption

Dawn was still around Snowpoint City. She looked around. _Looks like the Cipher Peons all left,_ she thought.

SLAM!

Dawn jumped at the sound, and whirled around. There was another Cipher Peon…with a huge gun! :o (NOT held by Bowser)

"Huh?!! What is that thing?!!" yelled Dawn.

"Prepare to be defeated with our new weapon!" yelled the guy. It began to draw in energy…

**ZASHHHH!**

Dawn screamed as she was blasted by a huge blast of dark purple energy emitting from the gun. She fell and hit the ground with a thud.

"It's done. Let's go," said the Cipher Peon. They left.

Piplup went down an alley after seeing the Cipher Peons go that way. However, he lost them. _Where are they now?_ He wondered to himself. He raced down another alley.

And he found bad luck.

He found Dawn sprawled in the alley. "_Dawn! Hey! Dawn! Are you okay?!!"_ Piplup yelled. (Italics are translations, of course.)

That's when Dawn got up. "Okay, Piplup. Let's go."

_"Huh? But Dawn, what happened before I go-"_

"I SAID, Let's go, Piplup."

Piplup suddenly felt extremely cold. He felt a chill down his spine just looking at Dawn's purple eyes…and they usually weren't even purple.

_"Um…oh…kay…"_ Piplup followed Dawn down an alley nervously.

This was not the Dawn he knew.

Ash and Candice were battling the Cipher Peons. They were having a hard time defeating the vast oncoming army.

"Glaceon, use Aurora Beam!" yelled Candice. Glaceon blasted a neon green-yellow blast, freezing the Cipher Peons in thick blocks of ice.

"Staraptor, use Aerial Ace!" yelled Ash. Staraptor swooped around and around, and then slammed into the Cipher Peons from behind.

And then the Cipher Peons fell back.

"Okay, now what do we-AAGH!" yelled Candice. A storm of bubbles had slammed into her.

"What?! Who?!!" yelled Ash.

He whirled around to see a Piplup…and Dawn!

"Huh?!! What the heck are you doing, Dawn?!!" yelled Ash.

"I'm going to obliterate you..." said Dawn. Ash got a glimpse of her eyes…which were purple now! "…Ash Ketchum! Piplup, use Bubble Beam!"

_"What?!! But Dawn, that's Ash-"_

"I SAID, USE BUBBLEBEAM, YOU RETARD!!" yelled Dawn.

_"Um…o-okay…"_ said Piplup. _"P-please don't kill me…"_

"I guess there's no other way…Dawn, I'm going to have to hammer some sense into you!" yelled Ash.

_ Pokémon Coordinator Dawn would like to battle!_

"Go, Grotle!" yelled Ash. Grotle came out.

"Prepare to fall, Ketchum," said Dawn.

"I'm gonna stop you, Dawn," said Ash. "Grotle, use Energy ball!"

Grotle sent a spiraling ball of energy at Piplup. Piplup got hit by it.

_"What?!! He didn't even _try_ to dodge it!"_ yelled Grotle.

"PIPLUP, YOU RETARD!!!" yelled Dawn. "GO, PACHIRISU!!!!"

Pachirisu came out, and…um…got a taste of a roar from some random Houndour that was in the area at the time. He freaked out and retreated into his Pokéball.

"PACHIRISU, YOU RETARD!!!" yelled Dawn. "GO, BUNEARY!!!!"

"What's gotten into her?" wondered Candice. "Dawn usually doesn't act this way …"

"Ha ha…" they heard all of a sudden. They whirled to see a Cipher Peon with the strange gun. "Good, you've finally figured it out.

"She's been hit with our special weapon, the DARK CANNON, and now she's in the realm of SHADOW." After that was a peal of maniacal laughter. And he aimed the gun…at them!!!!!!

"Prepare to fall, little Gym Leader!" he yelled, as it charged. And then it fired.

"Glaceon, fire Ice Beam into that blast!" yelled Candice.

Glaceon shot Ice Beam, and it slammed into the shot of shadow. The two beams held for a while, and then-

**KA-BLAMMM!!!**

Shadow energy exploded around the area. Don't worry, our heroes didn't get affected too much by it.

"Oh, come on!" yelled the guy. He began to charge up another shot-and his dark cannon suddenly got sliced with an X-shaped move, cleaving it into four pieces.

"Huh?!!!!" all of them said. They turned.

"You know, I've gotten really sick of you Cipher Peons," said the guy. It was…

PAUL!

"Huh-Paul?" Ash had apparently NOT been expecting the arrival of his chief rival.

"Take out that girl, Ash," said Paul. "I'll deal with these losers."

"Right!" Ash turned to face Dawn. "Now, where were we?"

That's when he had an idea! _Wait! What if light can drive out that shadow? If so...but Dawn would easily dodge it, so-OH WAIT!_

"Candice, have Glaceon use Ice Beam-at Dawn!" yelled Ash.

"Huh? But-"

"Just do it!" yelled Ash.

Candice had Glaceon blast Ice Beam at Dawn. Naturally, Dawn dodged it.

"I knew that wouldn't work!" yelled Candice.

Ash moved his finger over his eyebrow.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!!!" yelled Candice.

Grotle blasted a huge Solarbeam.

Dawn dodged.

"I KNEW THAT WOULDN'T WORK!!!!!!!" yelled Candice.

That's when it BOUNCED OFF the ice that Candice's Glaceon made.

"Yes!" yelled Ash.

But suddenly…

(A few seconds ago…)

Paul's Electivire threw a rock at a Cipher Peon.

It conked him on the head ^_^.

And the rock cracked open :O. Something bounced off the guy's head TOWARDS the Solarbeam!

Before anyone could do anything, it sucked the Solarbeam into itself.

Everyone gaped.

**FWASSSH!**

And then it threw out an intense beam of blue-green light.

Dawn got slammed by it and freaked out.

"WHAT THE HECK?!!" yelled Ash, Candice, Paul and Brock (who, by the way, had shown up).

Dawn lay on the ground smoking.

"What…was that?" asked Candice. She looked at Paul.

"HUH?!! WHY THE HECK ARE YOU ASKING ME, GOD D*** IT!!!" yelled Paul.

"Well, your Electivire kicked that rock at her, and so…"

The Cipher Peons fled, thinking Grotle had a hidden power. One Cipher Peon was still there. The one that had been conked on the head with the rock. And then…he fell over, his head smoking.

Ash picked up the thing that had sucked in the Solarbeam. He looked at it. It was a teal crystal. He looked at his Snag Machine. Crystals much like that very one were built into it. What was that called again?

"Aetherium," Ash said, still staring at the stone.

"Aetherium?" asked Candice. "What is it?"

"It's a long forgotten element," said Ash. "This crystal possesses strange powers that even I don't know very much about."

"I don't mean to sound greedy, but can I have it?" asked Candice.

"Sure," said Ash. "I already have two. Why would I need another?"

_A few minutes later… _

Dawn got up. "Uhhhh…."

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty awakes!" said Paul jokingly.

"Shut up, Pa-HEY WAIT!!! WHERE THE HECK DID PAUL COME FROM?!!" Dawn yelled.

"He got here while you…uh…" said Ash._ Um…what do I tell her now?_

"Well, Cipher…um…took control of you for a while, and while that happened, he showed up at Snowpoint," said Brock.

"Wow, that's not good," said Dawn. She suddenly sprang up. "Okay! Cipher's threat to Snowpoint is over! Let's go!"

_Even being corrupted didn't change her one bit…_ Ash thought.

"Your hair's messed up, by the way," said Paul.

"OH NO!!!!!!" yelled Dawn, and she zoomed into a building to redo her hair.

"So, I guess we're going to go fight Cipher out of Snowpoint," said Ash.

"I'm going with you, Ash," said Candice.

"Huh? But don't you have to protect Snowpoint?" asked Ash.

"Well, my people can take care of themselves pretty well," said Candice.

"Well, welcome aboard," said Ash.


	7. Skrub just can't win, even with demons

Axel, Ben and Sam finally came to a stop on the plains.

"Great. Now what?" asked Sam.

"Hey…" said Axel.

"Huh? What is that?" yelled Ben.

They could see a swirling cloud of mottled purple in the distance.

"It radiates a dark aura…" said Axel. "Huh?" He noticed something in the distance.

A green motorcycle was speeding away from the cloud. Guess who was on it.

"Oh, HE came back again," said Axel. "Gee, he sure picked a good time to show up."

The motorcycle was getting closer.

"Who's 'HE' supposed to be?" asked Sam.

"My brother, Aeron," said Axel.

"Great. That's just what we needed. Another sarcastic, lazy bum," said Ben sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up," said Axel.

Aeron finally arrived.

"So you decided to take a vacation?" Axel said.

"Picked a good time for it, too," said Aeron.

"Yeah," said Anabel.

"Uncle! Uncle! I got a Starly!" yelled Aerín.

"I know, Aerín," said Axel.

"Dream family reunion, huh?" asked Sam.

"Yep," said Anabel.

"Well in that case-" they suddenly heard, "-it's perfect timing for one, since YOU'RE ABOUT TO BE DEFEATED!"

"Huh?" Axel turned. "Uh oh, we're surrounded."

Cipher Peons were ALL AROUND THEM. EVERYWHERE.

"THAT'S ALL YOU CAN SAY?" yelled Aeron. "UH OH?"

"You're trapped," they heard. "There's no way out." They turned to see a Cipher Peon in gray armor. "This time, I will defeat you, Axel Nightblazer."

"Huh? Oh, it's you again," said Axel calmly. "**S**tupid **K**rappy **R**etarded **U**gly **B**anana."

"Who?" asked every good guy that was at the scene at the same time.

"HUH? WHAT THE H***? THIS AGAIN? I TOLD YOU, MY NAME IS SKRUB!"

"Yeah, that's what I said. Skrub stands for **S**tupid **K**rappy **R**etarded **U**gly **B**anana."

"Tropius! Silence him! Use Energy Ball!" yelled Skrub.

Tropius was sent out and fired an Energy Ball.

Axel batted it aside-with a baseball bat!

"HOME RUN! WHOO!" yelled Axel.

"SHUT UP!" yelled Skrub. Tropius fired numerous Energy Balls.

Axel drew his sword and slashed all the Energy Balls in half, and they all exploded. Fortunately, he used Shun-po (flash step) to get out of the explosion.

"We'll have to fight our way out," said Anabel.

Anabel, Ben and Aerin went to battle the Cipher Peons. Aeron just decided to fight everyone possible.

"Well, I guess it's us two (Sam and I) versus you, **S**tupid **K**rappy **R**etarded **U**gly **B**anana," said Axel.

"My name is SKRUB!" yelled Skrub.

"Yeah, that's what I said. Skrub stands for **S**tupid **K**rappy **R**etarded **U**gly **B**anana, don'tcha know?" said Axel.

"I hate you Nightblazer!" yelled Skrub.

"You're in good company," said Axel.

* * *

_Cipher Commander __**S**__tupid __**K**__rappy __**R**__etarded __**U**__gly __**B**__anana wo-_

"NARRATOR! MY NAME IS SKRUB!"

…_.sorry, Cipher Commander Skrub would like to battle!_

"Go, Ninetails!" yelled Axel.

"Come on out, Dialga!" yelled Sam.

"Go, Benny and Giro!" yelled Ben. A Palkia and Giratina came out of their Pokéballs.

Oops.

Axel looked alarmed. "YOU IDIOTS!" he yelled.

"HUH? WHY ARE WE IDIOTS?" they both yelled.

"If all three of them-Space, Time, and er, Antimatter-are in one area at the same time, that area's Space and Time will take severe damage!" yelled Axel.

"Oops. Dialga, actually, go back home," said Sam. "Go, Lucario!"

Dialga opened up a portal to go back to his home dimension. Lucario burst out of his Pokéball.

"Well, I'm keeping Benny and Giro out!" said Ben. "No matter what you say, under my ownership, since they don't fight, they won't destroy Space and-"

The area began crumbling.

"Um, actually, you two, go back home," said Ben. He called them back to their Pokéballs. "Go, Flamer!" A Heatran came out.

"Calling them back to their Pokéballs won't do anything!" yelled Axel.

"Oh yeah? So how come the area didn't crumble back the-" Ben suddenly noticed that there was a lot of damage on that path. "Um. Never mind. But come on! Benny and Giro rock! Why can't I have them in my party?"

"WHAT DOES SAM DO, YOU BLIND RETARD?" yelled Axel.

"Well, I-" began Sam.

_Meanwhile…_

Espeon was battling a Cipher Peon's Ditto that was imitating Axel's Pikachu.

_You're wasting your time, Ditto. Pikachu has never beaten me once! Oh, well, maybe a few times…_ thought Espeon.

Almost immediately, the Ditto transformed into an imitation of…Espeon herself!

_Um, well, yeah…uh…okay, uh…that…changes…things…_ thought Espeon.

The Ditto-Espeon charged with Zen Headbutt. Espeon jumped over her and then fired a Shadow Ball, a move she had learned as an Eevee.

Espeon landed and felt a pain in her side. The Ditto-Espeon had used Iron Tail on her.

_Okay, you've asked for it!_ Espeon unleashed a move that she had somehow been able to use, despite other Espeons not knowing it.

_Blast Burn!_ With these words, Espeon unleashed a huge blast of fire. It sent the Ditto flying away, changing back into its original form.

_That's one less Cipher idiot to worry about,_ she thought, and then whirled to battle a Hitmonlee.

_Meanwhile…_

Axel dodged another Energy Ball.

"That all you got, **S**tupid **K**rappy **R**etarded **U**gly **B**anana?" he asked.

"MY NAME IS SKRUB!" yelled Skrub.

"Lucario! Use Aura Sphere!" yelled Sam.

Lucario charged up a blast of Aura and fired it, slamming into Skrub's Rhyperior (which he sent out while we were looking at Espeon's battle).

"Ninetails, use Flame Wheel!" yelled Axel.

Ninetails dashed forward, and turned literally into a wheel of fire, slamming into Tropius.

"Arrgh!" Skrub was annoyed that his opponents had chosen Pokémon that were strong against him. Of course, that Nightblazer had made a little mistake…a fatal one.

"Rhyperior, use Rock slide…on Ninetails!" yelled Skrub.

Rhyperior rained lots of rocks down on top of Ninetails.

Ninetails, however, blasted out intense heat and flame! It melted EVERY SINGLE rock that Rhyperior had used.

"_That_ was my secret move that I taught Ninetails," said Axel. "It's called Inferno. Unfortunately, because of your attack, it couldn't serve its real purpose. Shall I show you its true nature? Sam, Aeron, Anabel, Aerín, and Ben, bring all your Pokémon back. Things could get messy."

All our heroes recalled their Pokémon.

"Ninetails, use inferno!" At the same time, Axel silently used the 81st way of binding, Danku (severing void), to protect his friends with a clear barrier.

Flame went everywhere. Fortunately, as we said before, Axel's friends were protected with that kidó.

"OH, COME ON! NOW MY FAVORITE ARMOR IS BURNT!" yelled Skrub. "I can't believe I have to get out my spare set of armor already…"

"You're weird," said Axel.

"AM NOT!" yelled Skrub. "I'll just crush you with our trump card! Go, Hariyama!"

"Hariyama…what?" Axel noticed something was _definitely_ wrong here. The Hariyama was black and red all over, and even a shiny Hariyama wasn't like this.

"Scared?" asked Skrub. "You should be. This is our first Pokémon of the DEMON element, the DEMON HARIYAMA!"

"Man, Cipher's really done it," said Axel. "Ninetails, return. Pikachu, do you want to do this?"

"Right!" yelled Pikachu.

"Ha! Don't make me laugh!" yelled Skrub. "A mere Pikachu can't hurt it."

"Skrub, you'll be surprised," said Axel.

"Hariyama, use Demon Punch!"

Hariyama focused, and then punched hard.

"AAAaaaah…" Pikachu went flying back.

And got back up. "Let's do this again!" he declared.

Hariyama attacked. Pikachu dodged.

Hariyama attacked. Pikachu dodged.

Hariyama attacked again. Pikachu dodged again.

"OH, COME ON!" yelled Skrub.

"Shut up. Stop saying the same thing over and over again," said Axel, annoyed. "Pikachu, use Thunder Force."

"Thunder force?" yelled Skrub.

Pikachu charged up energy, which crackled around him.

"Thunder Force!" Pikachu yelled, and blasted a huge blast of electricity.

The Hariyama was hurt badly. Sensing that Hariyama would faint soon, Axel raised his hand. Into it whirled a Pokéball. He threw it, hard. An orange claw-like energy flared out, capturing the Hariyama.

It caught instantly.

"Oops, I used one of my Master Balls," said Axel. "Darn. They're really rare."

"OH, COME ON!" yelled Skrub. "GO-"

"You know, I'm tired of you. Pikachu, Volt Tackle him," said Axel.

"Lucario, Focus Blast!" yelled Sam.

Lucario blasted energy at Skrub, slamming into him.

Pikachu smashed into him with lots of electricity crackling around him, which sent Skrub flying far away.

"Bye,** S**tupid **K**rappy **R**etarded **U**gly **B**anana!" called Axel.

"IIIII HAAAATE YOOOOOOOOU NIIIIIIIGHTBLAAAAZEEEER!" yelled Skrub as he disappeared into the distance.

The Cipher Peons piled into their Hovertruck and fled.

"Yeah! No one can defeat us!" yelled Ben.

"Not even Frontier Brains!" crowed Sam.

Axel looked slightly annoyed by this, but for Anabel…

She drew back her hand.

"Oh, god, no, Anabel, stop, stop-" began Aeron.

"Huh? What?" asked Sam.

"Anabel, stop, stop-" said Aeron.

"Go for it, Auntie!" shouted Aerin. "Remember to hit him in the face!"

That's when it occured to Sam. "What-? Noooooo!"

**KA-RACCCCCKKKKKKK!**

_It's a one hit KO!_

_Axel Nightblazer (the author): We'll end the chapter there while Sam gets his head handed back to him. _(XD)


	8. Sunyshore desperately needs renaming

A Cipher Peon was making ANOTHER radio communication.

"Well, now…" he heard. "Were you able to eliminate the Gym Leaders of Snowpoint and Oreburgh?"

"Well, sir…the Champion of Kanto stopped us in Oreburgh, and Ash Ketchum and his friends stopped us at Snowpoint…"

"WHAT?!!!!" yelled the guy. The Cipher Peon cringed and wished he'd have had to make a more positive report.

"Where should we attack next, Sir?" he asked, feigning composure.

"At Sunyshore."

"What?!! But, sir, that's where the most powerful Gym Leader in Sinnoh is!" shouted the Cipher Peon.

"All the MORE reason to attack it. This Gym Leader is one of the biggest standing threats to our plans. Move out to Sunyshore!!"

"Y-Yes sir." The Cipher Peon got ready to send the boss's orders to a legion of Cipher Peons. "Why couldn't I write movie reviews?" he asked himself.

At Sunyshore City, a guy in glasses was reading a newspaper. Guess who?

A guy with a pentacle-shaped ornament concealed in his sleeve.

Uryu Ishida.

"Hmmm…Cipher? Weren't they the guys in Hoenn?"

PLOP!

"WAAAH!!!!" Uryu yelled. That's when he noticed that they were just groceries.

"Hi, Uryu! I'm back!" said a teenage girl with flower-shaped hairclips and light brown hair. Guess who?

"Orihime…what _is_ that stuff?" asked Uryu.

"What? I got…" Orihime rattled on with a list of foods that Uryu thought made strange combinations.

"Um…okay." Uryu held out the newspaper. "Look at this."

"Huh? Cipher?" Orihime's smile kind of faded.

"Don't worry about it, Orihime," said a guy that appeared to be Ichigo, but was actually a Gikongan (substitute soul) named Kon controlling his body. (Ichigo has a real world body that he leaves to use his Shinigami powers.) "As long as I'm around, you're safe.

Nearby, a muscular guy was taking a nap. Yasutora "Chad" Sado.

"CHAD! WAKE UP!" yelled Uryu.

That's when they heard an uproar. Cipher Peons were attacking the City!

"What's going on?" yelled Chad, who had woken up during the uproar.

"Cipher is attacking, so I hear," said Uryu. "We've got to stop them!"

"Then let's go!" yelled Orihime.

The four dashed towards the panicked crowd.

Volkner strode out of the Gym. He had heard the uproar, and was going to find out what it was about.

That's when two Cipher Peons stepped out from the shadows They were wearing purple armor (but more about that later).

"You're coming with us, Gym Leader."

"What did you just say?" asked Volkner.

"I SAID, YOU'RE COMING WITH US!!!!" yelled the guy.

"I don't think so," said Volkner.

"Oh yeah? Want to test me?" asked the Cipher Peon.

"Do you WANT to be tested?" asked Volkner.

"Yeah!" yelled the guy. "Go, Zangoose! Attack with Close Combat!"

Volkner dodged Zangoose's attack. "Why, you! Okay, you just brought yourself a pounding!"

_Cipher Peon Billy Bob Joe (I don't even know his name) would like to battle!_

"WHO PUT BILLY BOB JOE THERE?!!!!" yelled the guy. "ANYWAY, ZANGOOSE, USE-"

"Are you blind?" Volkner asked. "Go, Luxray!"

"Ha! Zangoose, use Close Combat!" yelled the Cipher Peon

"Luxray, use Quick Attack-over Zangoose!" yelled Volkner.

"What?!!" yelled the Cipher Peon.

Luxray dashed over Zangoose just as Zangoose made his move. Zangoose ended up missing.

"Now, Luxray, use Charge Beam!" yelled Volkner.

Luxray charged up electricity and fired it at Zangoose, critically damaging him.

"If you think I'll be beaten so easily, you've got another thing coming," declared the Gym Leader.

The Cipher Peons were terrorizing people in Sunyshore everywhere.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" yelled the Cipher Peons. They were all wearing purple armor (but again, more about that later).

"Santun Kesshun! (Three heavenly linking shield)" they heard from above. A triangle shaped shield suddenly appeared and blocked all their attacks.

"Who the heck…?!!" they yelled. They suddenly noticed a dark shadow above them.

It was Uryu…with a Spider web-shaped weapon!

"Ginrei Kojaku!" he shouted, and unleashed a volley of 1,200 arrows down on the Cipher Peons-all those arrows in 1 second.

"That didn't take us down!" they laughed. That's when they noticed someone behind them.

Chad was there. His arm morphed into a new shape with a shield attached to it colored purple and black.

"What is _that_?!!" they yelled.

"My right arm," Chad replied. "Brazo Derecha del Gigante. (Right Arm of the Giant)"

The Cipher Peons attacked him… and were all blasted away.

A Cipher Peon realized something. _No, he's blasted us with the mere wake of his attack!_

Another guy ran for it, getting ready to attack someone else. "You're next, little girl!" he yelled at Orihime.

He raised his Pokéball…and suddenly an oval-shaped blast ripped through it, destroying it.

"HUH?!!" yelled the Cipher Peon.

"Koten Zanshun! (Lone heaven's piercing shield)" yelled Orihime, and the oval-shaped blast zoomed through all his Pokéballs, destroying them.

"OH, COME ON!!!!" yelled the Cipher Peon.

Oddly, his Pokémon were spirited away to some location for no apparent reason. There was some weird (useless) mechanism that did that when the Pokéballs were destroyed.

The guy dashed towards Orihime. "I guess I'll just settle for a capture!" he yelled.

Orihime used Kung-Fu on him. "OWWWW! WHO TAUGHT THIS GIRL?!!!!!"

Orihime dashed off to help Uryu and Chad battle the Cipher Peons.

Somewhere off in the distance, Kon was (literally) kicking butt.

Volkner was not doing so well.

Most of his Pokémon had been plowed through. Now he and his opponent both had only one Pokémon each.

"Prepare to lose, Volkie!" taunted the guy who he had been fighting.

Volkner was up against a Flareon, and he had his Raichu out. _This isn't good…_he thought.

"Let's see if we can beat this guy, Raichu, my old friend," said Volkner. "Now! Use Quick Attack!"

"Ha! Flareon, use Amber!" yelled the Cipher Peon.

"Uh, it's _ember_, not _amber_," said his partner.

"Right! I knew that! Ember!" yelled the Cipher Peon.

Raichu was right in front of Flareon. "He'll get point-blanked! It's over!" laughed that dumb Cipher Peon.

"Now, Raichu, use Volt Tackle!" yelled Volkner.

Raichu burst into, um, electricity right before Flareon used his move. Flareon's own attack bounced back at him. Flareon was zapped and zapped. Eventually he fainted.

"Yes! We won!" yelled Volkner.

Uryu, Orihime, Kon, and Chad arrived.

"Give up, Cipher," said Uryu. "You've lost in this city."

"Got it. We lose. But not before we do our job," said the Cipher Peon.

Suddenly, a Cipher Copter blasted the ceiling of the building Volkner and the Cipher Peon had moved their battle inside, and lowered a strange sphere inside.

"Let's do it!" yelled the Cipher Peon. He and his partner reached into sockets inside, and pulled hard on levers. The Sphere opened, revealing a timer and a sphere of mottled purple energy.

"A bomb!" yelled Orihime in shock.

"AAAAH!!!!!! A BOMB! IT'S A BOMB! AAAAAAAAHHHHH OH MY GOD OH MY GOD WE'RE GONNA DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Kon.

"No. You will live. But you will be slaves to our will. Our Corruption Bomb will corrupt all the citizens of Sunyshore within its range with Demon energy (with the exception of us Cipher Peons who wear purple armor), which will cause them to go into a berserker state while still being given the urge to aid in** Lord Tabuu's** quest to dominate Sinnoh. We win this round, humans," said the Cipher Peon.

"We have less than three minutes. We can still get out! Hurry!" yelled Uryu.

They dashed through the streets of Sunyshore.

_2 minutes and 30 seconds later…_

Chad looked behind him. "We're too late! That field is spreading!"

"Only one thing to do, then!" yelled Uryu. "Ready, Kon!"

"Ready!" yelled Kon.

Kon and Uryu grabbed Volkner, Chad, and Orihime, and zoomed far away.

They ended up in a meadow. Uryu and Kon fainted from running AND carrying people (Uryu carried 2).

Volkner looked sadly at the gathering field of shadow. _It's gone now…_he thought.

Chad and Orihime stared at it as well.

"That guy said 'Lord Tabuu' or something…" said Orihime.

"We've got to find this guy and give him a piece of our mind," said Chad, standing up with determination.


	9. Admins suck at acting

"Well, here we are. In an awfully quiet city." Ichigo, Renji, and Rukia had followed that hover truck into Veilstone City.

"Normally, it's louder than this. What happened?" wondered Renji.

"_Why_ do people keep asking me stuff that I don't know?" Rukia wondered.

"Look, let's just see what went on, got it?" said Ichigo.

"Right!" said Renji and Rukia, and they went off.

Ash, Candice, Brock, Dawn, and Paul had gone to Veilstone City as well.

"Great. Now what?" asked Ash.

"Where is everyone, anyway?" Paul wondered.

"Do you think that Cipher was here and-" began Dawn.

"Kidnapped everyone? How'd they get _that_ accomplished? It's not possible," Candice quickly replied.

"Well, once, Cipher kidnapped all the citizens of Phenac City and sealed them in the pregym," Brock pointed out.

"Um, uh, yeah, well, okay, uh…I forgot about that," said Candice.

"Ha ha," said Paul.

"OH, SHUT UP!!!!!!!!" yelled Candice.

_Axel Nightblazer (author):_

_Wowowoyeah_

_A-Ha-Ha Wowwow_

_Nananananana…_

"ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!" yelled Dawn.

Candice noticed the Cipher Peons.

"Why would they guard some out of the way location?" she wondered.

"Maybe they put a gem in there and they want to protect it," said Brock.

"Who'd put it there?" Candice replied. "It makes no sense at all."

"Who would not put it there. Who is on first," joked Ash.

"Veeeeeeeeeeery funny," said Paul sarcastically.

"Why are we just lingering here?" Ichigo asked.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Ash, Candice, Dawn, Brock and Paul yelled in surprise.

"Um…what's with all the screaming?" Ichigo asked.

"Don't sneak up like that!" Ash yelled. "It's scary!"

Paul was leaning against a wall, his heart beating.

"Oh, sorry, I just ended up here when following a hover truck-OOOOOOF!" Ichigo got slugged by Renji.

"WE ended up here when following a hovertruck," said Renji, annoyed.

"Okay, okay, okay," said Ichigo.

"Well, now we go beat up the Cipher Peons!" said Ash. "Pikachu, use Thunder!!!!!!!"

Pikachu called down a lot of lightning bolts and all the Cipher Peons were fried by them.

"Now, what could Cipher be up to here?" wondered Ash.

"Mmm…mmm….mmmm!"

"You hear something?" Paul asked.

"It's coming from that alley!" said Ash.

They ran down the dark alley to find Maylene tied up and gagged.

"Maylene, what's going on?" asked Candice.

"Mmmm!" said Maylene.

"Oh, right, sorry." Candice removed the piece of cloth covering Maylene's mouth. "Now, what's going on?"

"Cipher's overrun the city. They were under the command of some guy called…something like Don Panini…anyway, their base is northwest of here," Maylene quickly told them.

"Okay, let's go!" Ash yelled, and all of them dashed off somewhere.

"HEY, YOU FORGOT TO UNTIE ME!!!!!" Maylene yelled at them.

_Inside Cipher's base in Veilstone…_

"What the-?" Ichigo looked around. "This looks like a studio."

"This Don Panini guy must think he's a movie star," said Renji.

"Shhhhh! Look over there! Cipher Peons!" Brock whispered, pointing.

"Quiet on the scene!" one of the Cipher Peons yelled.

"Ulp!" Candice quickly covered her mouth.

"ACTION!!!!!!"

Ichigo immediately kicked some Cipher Peon in the face.

"!!!!!!!!" yelled the Cipher Peon.

"How's _that_ for action, huh?" Ichigo asked.

"Quiet!" said Renji. " There's someone up there!"

"Come on out!" Ichigo called towards the girders above them.

HUSHHHHHH……………………………………………..

"We all know that you're up there! Reveal yourself!" Ichigo yelled.

Instantly, one of the beams above them shattered.

"What the-?!!" Dawn yelled.

They could make out a figure jumping across the girders.

"Dang!" Ichigo dashed after the guy. "You're not getting away!" he yelled.

"Hmph," they heard above. "Who's the one running awa-" Before the man could finish, he slipped."Oop!" He saw the ground rushing forward. "WAH?!! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

**CRASH!!!!!**

Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, Ash, Candice, Brock, Paul, and Dawn all stared at the dust cloud that was created by the man's fall.

"Um…hey? Are you okay?" asked Ash.

A hand suddenly shot out of the dust. "DUNT-DAAAAN!" the guy yelled.

"WHAT THE HECK?!!!" Paul yelled, jumping back in surprise.

"Dunt-da-da-dunt-da-daaaaa-da-da-dunt-da-KOFF! KOFF! Dunt-da-KOFF! Dunt-! HEY!" the guy started doing a weird show, ending with a spin kick and a weird pose.

Our heroes stared at this idiot, thinking: _This is DUMB_.

"NOW, HEY YOU!!!!!" yelled the guy.

"WHAT'RE YOU ALL MAKING THOSE FACES FOR?!!!!!" he yelled, pointing at them.

"Well, you know…" began Ichigo.

"WHAT'RE YOU ALL MAKING THOSE FACES FOR?!!!!! WHAT'RE YOU ALL MAKING THOSE FACES FOR?!!!!!" the guy yelled again and again.

"Dude, shut up," said Paul, annoyed. "We heard you the first time. You don't have to say the same thing over and over and over again."

"You were just an audience to the Great Dordondii's graceful entrance scene! And yet…"

"Graceful? But you tripped and fell on your face," said Ichigo. _This guy's a lot like Don Panini…no, what was his name?_

"…how can you act so _calm_ after watching such a performance?!!! Why do you feign composure?!!!" yelled this "Great Dordondii" guy.

"We're not acting. What you see is what you get," said Ichigo.

"And we're not feigning composure. We're actually composed," added Candice.

"Hmph." Dordondii sighed. "Oh, well, whatever. I'll just have to accept that our tastes are different. And that you lot simply cannot appreciate the finer arts of the theater," he said.

"HEY, THAT'S NOT TRUE!!!!!!" yelled Ichigo.

"Since you'll all be destroyed, it won't matter much," said Dordondii, ignoring Ichigo. He whirled around. "Now, prepare yourselves, niños y niñas (boys and girls)! For I, Dordondii-sama, an **Administrator of Cipher**, will crush you!"

"Huh?" Ichigo asked. "What do you mean, the apple…mango…grape…uh…cider?"

All his friends stared at him in shock, because that wasn't even what Dordondii said.

"NO, YOU FOOL! IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEVERAGES!!!!!" Dordondii screamed at him. "DO YOU HAVE ANY RESPECT?!!! WHY DO YOU KEEP INTERRUPTING ME?!!!!!

"Cipher Administrators are the chief executives of Cipher! What part of that do you not understand?!!!!!!" Dordondii continued ranting.

"Oh, really? How can you be a chief executive? You seem kind of dumb, and well, really weak," said Paul, looking quite annoyed.

"EXCUSE ME?!!!" Dordondii demanded. "WHY DON'T YOU COME HERE AND SEE IF I'M REALLY WEAK?!!!" Dordondii asked. "You'll pay for that little comment, Niño! See my greatness and let your jaw drop in awe!"

Dordondii started flipping around, dodging every attack they made.

"This guy's style is dumb!" Paul said. "But it's working!"

"An actor must know how to perform!!" Dordondii laughed.

"Quit moving like that!" Ichigo yelled annoyed.

Dordondii just couldn't be hit for some reason.

"What's the matter, niño?" he asked, stopping for a moment. "You're not even coming close. And you all think you've got what it takes to take down Lord Tabuu, you silly goose-er, I mean, gooses?"

"Shut up!" yelled Ichigo. "And it's GEESE, not gooses!"

"It's pointless, pointless, pointless!" Dordondii said, and started doing those weird moves again (and ignoring Ichigo).

And, well, a rock was in his path.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" Dordondii screamed, and crashed into a pillar.

"HA! Serves ya right!" Ichigo said, laughing. He didn't notice a lot of rock coming down…………..

"Huh?" He looked up. A rock nailed him in the face. "Ugh!"

Paul laughed at him.

"Shut up!" yelled Ichigo.

A rock suddenly conked Paul on the head.

"OW!" Paul yelled.

"That's what you get for laughing at me!!!" Ichigo laughed.

"You're pretty good, niño," said Dordondii, getting up. "But I've seen how you move. At your level, you won't even-"

"GETSUGA TENSHO!!!!!!!" Ichigo yelled, blasting the light blue blast of energy towards him.

But then, Dordondii kicked it aside!

"What the-?!!" Ichigo yelled.

"…my, my. Didn't your mama ever teach you…" Dordondii got out of his kicking position. "…not to judge a book by its cover…niño?"

Cipher Administrator Don Panini would-

"IT'S DORDONDII!!! WHY'RE YOU CALLING ME THAT TASTY SOUNDING NAME?!!!!"

…sorry, Cipher Administrator Dordondii would like to battle!

"Go! Castform and Glaceon!" yelled Dordondii. He kicked the Pokéballs, and the Pokémon came out.

"Go! Pikachu and-huh?" Ash noticed that the Castform was radiating a shadowy aura. "A shadow Pokémon? Already?!!! Go, Pokéball!" He threw a Pokéball, but Castform blasted it aside with a Shadow Wave!

"Glaceon, rain Hail down on them!" yelled Dordondii.

"Infernape, use Sunny Day!" yelled Ash.

"Glaceon, rain Hail down on them!" yelled Dordondii.

"Infernape, use Sunny Day!" yelled Ash.

"Glaceon, rain Hail down on them!" yelled Dordondii.

"Infernape, use Sunny Day!" yelled Ash.

"Glaceon, rain Hail down on them!" yelled Dordondii.

"Infernape, use Sunny Day!" yelled Ash.

This process repeated 10 times.

"ENOUGH ALREADY!!!" Dawn yelled. "ARE YOU JUST GONNA KEEP CHANGING THE WEATHER OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN?!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Okay, Infernape, use Flame Wheel!" yelled Ash.

Infernape dashed towards Glaceon, flames whirling around him.

"Glaceon, attack! Use Ice Beam!"

Pikachu dodged the attack, but Paul ended up getting hit. "AAAAH!" yelled Paul, getting hit and frozen.

"Um…not good?" said Ash.

"Wha?!!" Ichigo quickly brought up his blade.

KLANG!!!!!

Cipher Peon's were running into the room with swords in hand.

"Howl, Zabimaru!" yelled Renji.

"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!" yelled Rukia.

"Getsuga Tensho!" yelled Ichigo, blasting the crescent-shaped shot of energy at the Cipher Peons, knocking them aside.

In the midst of all this, Glaceon got steamrolled by Infernape.

"Ha! Do you see, Ash Ketchum?" Dordondii gloated. "Your petty little gang will not stop my Cipher Peons. You haven't even noticed that my Glaceon's reiatsu (spiritual pressure) and my Castform's Weather Ball have frozen your Infernape!"

"Grr…" Ash held up his Pokéball. "Monferno, return! Go, Infernape!"

Garcrunch roared, and blasted Dragon Fire at Glaceon, knocking her out cold (er, maybe I should say hot).

"Hmm…" Dordondii smiled. "You're strong, niño. But…"

"But what?" asked Ash, expecting the worst.

"You're not going to defeat me," he said.

"Oh, yeah? Go, Pokéball!" yelled Ash.

Castform froze it in midair with Powder Snow.

"Go, Lombre!" Dordondii kicked the Pokéball. It smashed Ash in the face-hard.

"OWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ash fell backwards.

"My bad," said Dordondii.

"I'll step in, Ash. Do you mind if I do?" Candice held a Pokéball in hand. "Go, Froslass!"

"Lombre, use Giga Drain!" Dordondii commanded.

Lombre drained energy from Garcrunch to replenish his own.

"Now, Rain Dance!" yelled Dordondii.

Rain poured down on them.

"Go, Pokéball!" This time, Dordondii kicked it aside himself.

"Ugh-" Ash whirled to see a Cipher Peon…with a sword that was impaled in Candice's chest!

"Bye bye, Ms. Gym leader," said the Cipher Peon, laughing.

He began to pull the blade away…

Can you hear me, Candice?

"Wha…" Candice looked around. That blade was not there anymore. She was standing on a mountainside, where it was snowing fiercely. Only a few pine trees dotted the almost purely white landscape. Everything was covered with a thick layer of snow. And as far as she could see, she was alone. The only person on the lonely terrain. I don't see anyone, she thought to herself. One, what's happening? Why am I hearing voices? And two, where am I?

She heard a chuckle. Don't you know where you are or who's talking to you, Candice? It's me.

But there was suddenly a strong wind that blew snow all around Candice, preventing her from seeing or hearing anything over the howling wind and the dashing snow.

Oh…Candice heard. I guess you still can't hear me. What a pity.

"Who are you? My conscience?" asked Candice.

No. I'm- Another blizzard blasted Candice.

"What's with the blizzards?" Candice asked.

They're just natural occurrences in your inner world.

"Okay, so they're natural? Wait-inner world? What do you mean? I'm not a Shinigami!"Candice was bewildered.

You just never knew your family's secret, did you?

"My family's what?" Candice had absolutely no idea what this voice was talking about.

You heard me right. Your family was descended from a Lakaidan noble family. It was of lesser nobility, but here's what was special about them: aside from the royal family and the Hitsugayas, they were the ultimate wielders of ice.

"I'm…a Lakaidan descendant?" Candice asked.

Correct.

"Well…that's…um…" Candice had no idea whether she should have been thrilled or weirded out.

But…

"But what?!!" Candice noticed that an avalanche was occurring.

This world is coming apart. Your aggressor has used a poisoned blade, and you are dying.

"What can I do?"

You must come to the top of the mountain and stand between the four pillars at the summit. Then your powers may be activated and you may live.

Candice knew what she had to do. She dashed towards the top as fast as possible, ignoring all the avalanches, the blizzards, and other obstacles.

After what seemed like hours of toil, she reached the top to see the pillars. She looked down. The mountain was almost completely crumbled.

She turned back to the pillars to see a tall woman in a white dress.

You had better hurry, she said. The world is almost completely shattered.

"Who are you, anyway?" Candice asked.

The figure smiled. You'll find out soon, she said, and then suddenly manifested into a sword.

Candice dashed into that area between the pillars and grabbed the sword…

The Cipher Peon suddenly noticed he couldn't pull the blade out. "Wha-?" He noticed what was forming on it. "Ice?!!" He yanked his hand away, and the sword shattered.

Water whirled into Candice's hand. "Rule over this icy world…Tsumetai-Kaze Kouhi! (Icy wind queen)"

Immediately, the water froze into a purely white sword, with a hexagon-shaped guard that had a snowflake design on it.

Candice pointed her new blade at Dordondii. "Let's finish this, Don Panini," said Candice.

"IT'S DORDONDII!!!!!!" yelled Dordondii.


	10. Candice keeps things cool

_Back in Hoenn…_

Wallace suddenly looked up. Something was wrong in the water.

"What, Wallace?" asked Winona, the Fortree Gym Leader. At this time, while Aerín wasn't there to bother them, they were managing their garden.

"Something's shifted…" Wallace said.

"Well, of course something's shifted," joked Winona, pointing. Winona's Altaria was walking around, and then flew around a little.

"NO!!! That's not what I meant!!!!!" yelled Wallace, frustrated. "I mean in the water!"

Winona pointed. Wallace's Luvdisc was swimming in the water.

"_THAT'S_ NOT WHAT I MEANT, EITHER!!!!!" Wallace was getting extremely annoyed.

"Okay, fine, what is it?" Winona asked.

"I mean-what?" Wallace looked up. Something else was wrong. It was the middle of summer…and it was _snowing_!

"Snow? In summer? Something _is_ wrong here," said Winona.

"This is…reiatsu (spiritual pressure)-controlled weather!" Wallace said, startled. "No wonder something was wrong."

Wallace traced the reiatsu to a certain person in Sinnoh.

_Candice…why her? Is that a _zanpaku-to_ she has?!!"_

"It's coming from Sinnoh. Candice appears to be the one who's emitting the reiatsu," Wallace said, twirling water into his hand from the air around him. "Reign transcendent over the seven seas…Kairyu Shukkun! (Sea Dragon Lord)" It hardened into a trident with a dragon seemingly encircling it.

Wallace created a path of ice and dashed across it.

"Go, Altaria!" Winona yelled. "Oh, wait-she's out already. Okay, use Fly!"

Altaria rose up into the sky and Winona jumped on her back.

They dashed/flew to the Sinnoh Region.

"Ice…?" Dordondii looked around. Everywhere he looked, ice was forming. "Who made this backdrop change?!!"

Ash stared. "What's going on?"

"Well, ice is forming everywhere, and-" began Rukia.

"NOT FUNNY!" Ash yelled at her.

"I'm going to defeat these Cipher Peons right now!" Ichigo yelled. "BANKAI!"

"Eh?" the Cipher Peons asked. "Bankai?"

"YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I SAID! BANKAI!" yelled Ichigo, annoyed.

"Eh? Did you say Bankai?"

"Yeah, I said BANKAI!!!!!!!" Ichigo actually released it this time.

"Eh? What's that? Bankai?"

"GETSUGA TENSHO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ichigo yelled, blasting his red and black version of the move exclusive to his Bankai.

"That wasn't what you said!!!!!!!!!" the Cipher Peons yelled as they crashed through walls.

Dordondii and Candice glanced at the Cipher Peons flying through the pillars, and then went back to their battle.

"That's a change," said Dordondii. "And I thought you were just a regular human."

"So did I," said Candice. "And it looks like we were both wrong."

"Yes, well, that will not stop the fact that you will die," said Dordondii. He jumped forward, and brought his foot down in a kick.

Candice raised her blade, and blasted ice forwards. Dordondii jumped back. He attacked again.

Candice and Dordondii clashed at high speed, leg against sword.

Dordondii was not fazed by any of the strikes, but Candice found it was hard even with her sword to defend against his attacks.

They met again. Candice suddenly used her power to blast a blizzard at Dordondii, which made him have to jump back.

Ichigo charged at Dordondii, but then suddenly, Ichigo was blown back when Dordondii kicked.

"How'd he blow me back just by kicking? I wasn't anywhere near him! Huh?" Ichigo suddenly noticed that Dordondii's boots were glowing green!

"Pity." Dordondii got ready to attack again. "The secrets of the new administrators are revealed. I was hoping I didn't have to use this."

"Gestuga Tensho!" yelled Ichigo, blasting the wave attack at Dordondii.

But then, Dordondii began to spin around and around and around…

"What the-?!!" yelled Ichigo.

A tornado appeared around Dordondii's leg as he kept spinning. When he stopped, it was still there. He brought his foot down, sending the tornado at the Getsuga Tensho. The attacks hit each other and vaporized each other.

"What…is that?" Ichigo asked.

Dordondii got out of his kicking position. "Shall I explain?"

"No, Sir Dordondii! You shouldn't!" yelled a Cipher Peon.

"We six administrators that have joined Cipher have, as a gift from Lord Tabuu…" Dordondii drew in a breath. "…elemental powers."

"ELEMENTAL POWERS?!!!" yelled Ichigo.

"You heard me," said Dordondii. "Elemental Powers. And shall I tell you what _my_ element is? It's WIND."

"Wind?!!" asked Ichigo.

"Yes." Dordondii kicked at them again. "I am _the wind_." At that, they were blasted with intense gusts.

"Getsuga Tensho!" yelled Ichigo, blasting it again. Dordondii kicked it aside. Again.

Candice suddenly noticed something. _Hmmm…_

Candice pointed her blade and blasted a freezer beam at Dordondii. Dordondii dodged, kicking wind at it- and then suddenly noticed his Castform getting frozen. "Wha-?!!"

"I figured you'd dodge it and kick it at a 45˚ angle to your right and into the ground," said Candice. "You did that to Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho in both his shikai AND his Bankai. You also did that to Ash's Snag Ball."

"So?" Dordondii smirked. "I can just use an Ice Heal-"

"Too late," said Candice.

Dordondii realized that Ash had snagged his Castform!

"What? Nooooo!" yelled Dordondii.

Candice angled her blade and blasted an avalanche, burying most of the Cipher Peons.

Paul broke out of the ice. "Phew!" he said. "I must have been knocked out cold."

"You know, I've never known you to make jokes," said Ash.

"Oh, shut up," said Paul.

"Dordondii sir, do not worry," said a Cipher Peon. "For you still have a 99.99999999% chance of winning.

"Shut up, Spindle or whatever your name is," said Dordondii. "Your random percentages are so annoying. Lombre, return! Go, Cherim and Charmeleon!"

"Hmmm…. What can he be up to now???" wondered Paul.

"Why don't _you_ do something?" Dawn asked, annoyed.

"BECAUSE I'M STILL PARTIALLY STUCK IN THE ICE!!!!!!!!!" Paul yelled at them, furious

"Go, Infernape!" yelled Ash.

"Ha! He's still frozen!" yelled Dordondii. "Your attempts are futile!"

"Infernape, use Counter Shield!" yelled Ash.

"Counter shield?!!" yelled Dordondii.

Infernape suddenly broke and melted all the ice around him, spinning around with a flame wheel and blasting flame thrower at the same time.

"What? Not fair!" yelled Dordondii.

"WHAT?!! IT IS TOO FAIR!" yelled Ash.

"Anyway, Cherim, use Solarbeam!" yelled Dordondii. He suddenly brought his foot down, blocking Candice's blade.

The two kept clashing, again and again and again. Candice twisted her blade in mid-swing and Dordondii found his foot going…well…not the right way. Candice blasted a Blizzard at him, knocking him through a couple walls.

"Agh!" yelled Dordondii. "All right. I lose. Better finish myself off…" he brought out a grenade.

"WHAT?!!!" yelled Ichigo.

Dordondii dropped it.

**BA-WHOOOOOM!!!!!!**

Ash coughed in the smoke…and suddenly realized that this was just a smoke grenade!

Through the layers of smoke, he could barely make out Dordondii escaping by Ciphercopter.

"He got away…"

Candice was now dueling with a Cipher Peon.

"Ha! You can't win. You don't even know how to use your Zanpaku-to! So why do you still fight?" asked the Cipher Peon.

"I don't know. We're both about to find out," said Candice, and then blasted him with a wave of sheer cold that would leave him and the rest of the Cipher Peons in a thick layer of ice.

"Wow…if it wasn't for you, Candice, we wouldn't still be alive," said Ash.

"Yeah," said Candice. She was starting to see black…

Candice suddenly trembled, and then buckled.

"Candice!" yelled Ash.

That's when he saw Ciphercopters above them, ready to use their rocket launchers.

"Well, it was nice knowing you all," said Renji.

**KRAMMMM!!!!**

Ice suddenly speared all of the Ciphercopters, sending them plummeting to the ground.

"What the-?!!" yelled Ichigo.

Wallace and Winona had arrived.

"I'm glad we arrived in time," said Wallace.

"What did you just do?" asked Paul.

"Kairyu Shukkun can control any water around. All the water around you is mine to control," said Wallace.

He looked down at Candice. _That was some power she used. It's almost as powerful as my own. But…_

"She definitely needs medical attention," said Wallace.

"Then let's go!" yelled Ash.

"HELP!" screamed Maylene, who was still tied up in some alleyway.


	11. Cipher Peons can't even count to six

Axel took a deep breath in. _Man, it's good to be back in Eterna…_

He walked back to his house from the Pokémart.

"I'm back!" he called.

"What did you get?" asked Aerín.

"Oh, nothing much, just some Max Revives, some Calcium, a couple Hyper Potions…" Axel rattled on. "…some Moo-Moo Milk-"

He suddenly found a bazooka's barrel right in his face.

_Hand it over,_ Espeon demanded.

Axel sighed and handed over the Moo-Moo Milk.

"Well, I got two cans of Lemonade-"

A bazooka and a Spartan laser were in his face now.

"Hand it over," both Pikachu and Aeron said simultaneously.

Axel reluctantly handed them over.

"But anyway, I got some Fresh Water-"

The bazooka was in his face AGAIN.

"_Hand it over,"_ said Aeron's Gardevoir.

"I just can't win!" Axel complained as he surrendered the Fresh Water.

"Too bad," said Aeron.

"Well, I got a smoothie-"

Aerin reached for the bazooka.

"OKAY, OKAY! I'LL HAND IT OVER!" Axel yelled.

* * *

Axel was mixing some Poffins.

"Hey, try putting this in," said Aeron, handing Axel some glistening blue crystals.

Axel looked at them for a while. "These are Aetherium Sugar. Are you sure?" asked Axel.

"Who knows? Maybe it might even work for our friend Demon Makuhita," said Aeron.

"What's Aetherium Sugar?" asked Ben.

"Aetherium is the highest element in all of existence," said Axel. "It's pretty much a holy crystal. Aetherium Sugar is basically Aetherium elements mixed with sugar. It's a pretty cool snack."

Ben grabbed a crystal and ate it. "This is _good_!" he commented.

"Yeah," said Axel. He finished his trademark blue and green Poffin composed of Oran berries, Sitris berries, and Aguav berries all put together.

He handed it to Demon Makuhita, who seemed really, really happy after eating it.

"See? I told you it would work!" said Aeron, beaming.

"Oh, shut up," said Axel.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"Were those bazooka shots just now?" Anabel wondered.

"Maybe we should investigate," said Aeron.

They walked out Axel's door-and a bazooka shot hurtled towards them, flashing blue.

**KA-BOOOOOM!!!**

"WAAAAAAAAAAH!" they all yelled out of fright.

Axel walked out the door and took his headphones off. "Did something happen?" he asked.

Aeron got pissed off and shoved Axel back into the house.

CRASH! tinkle tinkle tinkle

Aeron paled. "I gotta go," he said, dashing off. "There are a lot of Cipher Peons in this area."

"Uh, okay," said Sam.

* * *

_5 minutes later…._

"That's it for the Cipher Peons in this area!" yelled Ben. "Now let's get to the Gym!"

"Right!" said Axel, glaring at Aeron.

That's when 6 Cipher Peons suddenly filed out of the Gym.

"What the-?" wondered Anabel.

The six were clad in (in order) red, blue, yellow, brown, purple, and green, and they all chanted:

"We are sextuplets! We are fierce! We are feared all over the land! For we are THE HEXAGON BROTHERS!"

"Count off!" yelled the red one.

"One!" "Two!" "Three!" "Four!" "Five!" "Six!" "Seven!"

"Huh?" wondered Axel.

"Eight!" "Nine!" "Ten!" Eleven!"…

* * *

_1 hour later…_

"5 million 999 thousand and 999!" "Six million!"

That's when they FINALLY noticed something. "Wait-six million?????? Now there are WAY too many of us!"

"Beware, brothers. There may be spies among us!" yelled the red one.

"FAIL." said Axel.

"MAJOR FAIL," said Ben and Sam at the same time. "THAT'S MY LINE!!!" they yelled at each other.

"Whatever. Brothers, let's take these guys down! Battle them all," said the red one.

* * *

_Cipher Peons/Hexagon Brothers would like to battle!_

"Greesix, Purpsix, you two battle those two girls over there," said the red guy.

"Right!" The green and purple guys dashed over to Anabel and Aerín.

"Bluesix, Browsix, you two battle the tall guys over there," said the red guy.

"Right!" The blue and brown guys dashed over to Axel and Aeron.

"Yellowsix, come with me and take out these remaining two," said the red guy.

"Right, Resix!" The yellow guy and red guy dashed off to battle Sam and Ben.

* * *

"We six brothers are bound together by brotherly love," said the Greesix guy. "Our power is sixfold! My Pokémon are sixfold!" He rattled on and on. Aerín was becoming _very_ annoyed.

"…and our food bill is times six!" Greesix took a Pokéball in hand. "Come on, kid. I'll take you on with my sixfold power!"

Aerín had had enough. She drew her hand back…………….

**KA-RACK!!!!!!!!!**

_It's a one-hit KO!_

Greesix fell, foaming at the mouth.

"Greesix! Are you all right, man?!!" yelled Purpsix.

"Groan…I…feel…crushing…pain…sixfold…" Greesix fainted.

Aerín dropped a brick…um…down _there_.

**KLANK!**

_A critical hit!_

_It's super effective!_

"Um…Aerín…" said Anabel.

* * *

"Okay, you regular trainers are gonna get it." Resix and Yellowsix were taking on Sam and Ben.

"Regular trainers???? I don't know _what_ you guys are talking about." Ben smiled. "Did you know that the Champion post in this region is shared? One of the people who has that title is Cynthia. The other is…me."

"WHAT?!! AW MAN!!!!"

"Yeah, and did you know that I'm the Champion of Kanto?" asked Sam.

"WHAT?!! DOUBLE AW MAN!!!!"

"Now, prepare to get blown up!" yelled Ben.

"COME ON OUT!!!!" both of them yelled.

Immediately, Dialga and Palkia came out to battle them.

"WHAT?!! TRIPLE AW MAN!!!!"

Palkia and Dialga blast the two Cipher Peons through a couple walls.

"OH NO!" yelled Ben. "WHO'S GONNA EXPLAIN THIS TO THE INSURANCE GUYS?!!!"

"Um…you are?" asked Sam.

"WHY ARE WE BLASTING OFF?!!!!!!!!!!!" Resix and Yellowsix yelled as they went flying into the sky.

* * *

"Go! Espeon!" yelled Aeron.

"I'd advise you not to use your Pikachu, Nightblazer," said Browsix as he and Bluesix grabbed their Pokéballs.

"Who said I was gonna use my Pikachu?" asked Axel. "You know, your reports didn't tell you all the Pokemon I have."

"Huh?" wondered the two Cipher Peons.

Axel held out a Pokeball. The Cipher Peons suddenly noticed a green reiatsu was emitting from it.

"Eh?!!"

Axel hurled the Pokeball. "Go, Chikorita!"

A Chikorita came out. "Yay! I finally came out!"

_Why are you so excited about coming out?_ wondered Espeon.

"I don't like my Pokeball!" replied Chikorita.

Bluesix and Browsix gaped. _A talking Chikorita!_

"You're probably thinking 'A talking Chikorita!' right now, right?" asked Axel.

"How do YOU know that?!!" they both asked.

"Everyone does," Axel replied.

* * *

_After those two regained their composure..._

Bluesix and Browsix were somehow not laughing (or trying not to).

"You got a _Chikorita?_" Bluesix said in disbelief. "Must be pretty weak."

"Not really," said Axel.

"Anyway, go, Sharpedo!" said Bluesix.

"Claydol, you too!" said Browsix.

Axel pointed. "Use Razor Leaf on both of them."

"Okay!" yelled Chikorita. She blasted leaves at them...which took both of them out instantaneously.

"WHAT?!!!" yelled the two Cipher Peons.

"Yeah, see?" said Axel.

"Aw...man...let's run."

The two Cipher Peons ran away.

"Do these guys even put up a fight?" wondered Axel.

"No," said Aeron.

* * *

Greesix was just getting up.

"Ow..."

"RETREAT!!!!!!!" yelled Purpsix, who was getting bombed by stones that Swablu was chucking at him.

"AAAH!!!!!" yelled Greesix, runnng.

* * *

"Okay, that's it for those guys," said Ben.

"I'm shocked at how _wimpy_ those guys were," said Aeron.

"Okay. Let's go find their leader!" yelled Sam.

Axel looked out to the forests beyond. _What's that pounding reiatsu in the hidden temple of the Eterna woods?_


	12. The Admin as cold as ice, literally!

"Forget it!" yelled Gardenia. "Why do you want the Lustrous and Adamant Orbs so badly?"

She was yelling at a guy in a blue coat that said ARCTIC on it, black pants, and a white helmet with a blue visor. This weird guy had pulled her into an unfamiliar temple that was in the Eterna forest. It was a strange temple, with no roof (it was literally open to the sky), several niches on the higher parts of the temple, two small stone pedestals, and a large white crystal in the center. Anyway, he was demanding the Lustrous Orb and the Adamant Orb.

"Unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to say _why_ we need it. Will you hand it over?" said the weird guy from the North Pole.

"No way!" yelled Gardenia.

"You still will not hand it over?" said the guy. "Very well then, we'll just have to…"

TMP!

"Huh?" they both turned.

"Well," they heard. "And I actually thought this place wouldn't be found by Cipher. Darn. Ah, well…"

And there were…

Axel Nightblazer

Aeron Solo

Aerin

Anabel

Ben

Sam

"Oh, it's you, Axel Nightblazer," said the guy, turning to face him.

"Huh?" Axel seemed puzzled. "And you're…idiot number 1."

"SILENCE!!!!!" yelled the guy.

"Um…okay," said Ben.

"You'll regret talking to an Administrator of Cipher like that," said the guy. "For I, Frostelius, the Administrator of Ice, will destroy you!!!!!!"

_Cipher Admin Frostelius would like to battle!_

"Okay! Let's teach this apple mango grape…uh…cider who's boss!" yelled Ben.

The others all stared at him.

"SILENCE!!!!!!!!" yelled Frostelius. And then he pulled out the scariest thing yet.

A bazooka.

"WAAAAAHH!!! IT'S A BAZOOKA! AAAAHHHH WE'RE GONNA DIE WE'RE GONNA DIE WE'RE GONNA DIE!!!!!!" yelled Pikachu.

Axel looked at it, bored. "What the heck…?"

"SHUT UP!!!!!!!!" yelled Frostelius, blasting a bazooka shell at them.

**KABOOM!!!!**

"Ha! I've taken out Axel Nightblazer!..." yelled this Frostelius person.

"Hi, I'm right here."

Frostelius whirled to see Axel, who had turned into his Shinigami state. He waved.

Frostelius blasted at him.

**KABOOM!!!!**

There was a blur, and Axel reappeared in another location.

"Yo!" yelled Axel.

Frostelius punched him.

"OWWWWW!!!!!!!!" yelled Axel.

"Should we be doing anything?" asked Sam.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK?!!!!!" yelled Aeron, jump-kicking him in the face.

"OWWWW!!!!!!!!!" yelled Sam.

Frostelius kept blasting. Axel kept dodging.

"Grrr!" Frostelius put another hand on his bazooka. The barrel suddenly glowed yellow.

"Huh?!!" yelled Axel.

"Get a load of my SUPER MISSILE!" yelled Frostelius, blasting a yellow blast with a blue tail.

Axel dodged. "Not very super, are you?" he asked. "Hey, wait…"

The blast suddenly whirled and zoomed at him.

"HEY! WHAT THE HECK?!!!!!!!!" yelled Axel, dashing away. "COME ON! A HOMING ROCKET?!!!!"

Frostelius laughed and blasted more Super Missiles. Soon, lots and lots of missiles were blasting at Axel.

"HA HA HA HA HA!!!! There's no escape!" yelled Frostelius.

All of them closed in on Axel…and exploded long before they reached him.

"What the-?" said Frostelius.

Axel had released his Shikai, Shiruba-Getsu (Silver moon). In case you don't remember, his shikai is a silver and blue glove with a blue blade of energy extending out. On his right hand.

I'll tell you why I mentioned his right hand later. Much later. Maybe I won't even tell you in this fanfic.

Whatever. Just look at something I will be working on…much later :)!

"Your Shikai?" asked Frostelius. "But you must know that even Shikai cannot hurt me."

"Oh, really?" asked Axel. He disappeared.

Frostelius raised his bazooka-and fired a beam of cold energy!

"WHOA!" yelled Ben. He was partially frozen.

Frostelius blasted lots of Super Missiles.

They all zoomed at Ben. As they zoomed at him, he said, "Well, the good news is that I'm safe. In an air pocket. Of doom."

"DAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!"

**BOOOOOMMMM!!!!**

Frostelius turned back to Axel, who had just reappeared. He focused on him, and blasted a beam of sheer cold energy.

Axel's eyes narrowed and he disappeared, allowing the energy to slam into a pillar. He reappeared in another location.

Axel made a finger gun, and then silvery blue energy rapidly accumulated around it. He pointed at Frostelius.

"Getsu Taiho! (Moon cannon)" he yelled, blasting a barrage of small but fast silvery blasts.

Frostelius jumped and slid on a path of ice he was rapidly generating, causing the blasts to miss.

Axel suddenly disappeared, and reappeared right in front of Frostelius.

"What the?!!" yelled Frostelius.

Axel drew his fist black.

"Tsukiren!" he yelled, blasting a wave of energy at the Admin.

Frostelius was knocked backwards, and Axel disappeared…_again._

"So..._should_ we step in?" asked Sam.

"Sam, come closer," said Anabel.

"Huh? What is it?" asked Sam. Immediately, his right wrist came up, blocking Anabel's slap. "Anabel, do you really think you could use the same trick twice on m-"

"I STILL HAVE A LEFT HAND!!!!" Anabel's LEFT HAND came up, hitting Sam on the other side of his face.

**KA-RACKKKK!!!!!**

_It's a one-hit KO!_

Sam collapsed, foaming at the mouth.

"Never underestimate the power of the Phantom left," said Anabel.

"…………………………………………." said Frostelius.

"…………………………………………." said Axel, who was right next to Frostelius.

"HEY! WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!!!!" yelled Frostelius.

"From the awesome place," said Axel.

"You are anything but awesome," said Frostelius.

"I am offended," said Axel.

"Doesn't Ben say that?" asked Aeron.

"Whatever," said Axel.

Frostelius generated armor of ice around his free arm, and attacked.

Axel and Frostelius did some sparring for a bit, and then Axel suddenly used his speed to reappear in another spot.

Frostelius whirled, and giant icicles appeared around him. They zoomed at Axel.

Axel flipped, ran, and dodged the icicles. And then he saw it coming.

A rocket slammed into Axel-one infused with freezing energy!

"Oh, this doesn't look good," said Axel as ice formed all around him.

Frostelius' visor flipped down, and an aiming reticule appeared on it. It passed over Axel five times, and then…

"Fire," said Frostelius.

Five missiles all at once zoomed towards Axel. And Frostelius added some Super Missiles to the mix.

"It's over," said Frostelius.

"No! It can't end like this!" yelled Aerín.

"Oh, it won't," said Aeron.

"Huh?" Aerín looked at him.

"Axel's gonna be all right," said Aeron. "Just watch.

Frostelius briefly turned his back, but a nanosecond before the missiles hit…

**ZASHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!**

"What-?!!" Frostelius whirled to behold an immense column of silver energy. Looking up at the sky, Frostelius saw a vast blue field with specks of white and a silvery C shape.

_Night?!! But it's only 2:00 pm! How-?!!_ Frostelius suddenly saw something, and raised his ice arm and bazooka to block a silvery-blue sword attached to a long chain.

"What? This wasn't his sword! What is it?!!!" yelled Frostelius.

The column of energy faded.

Silver wings flapped. A midnight blue coat drifted in the wind. A hand tugged on the chain, and the sword zoomed away. The chain shortened as it got closer to its owner.

"Sheesh," said the sword's owner. "Stop yelling! I can hear you through my headphones!"

And there was Axel. He now had a new midnight blue coat with silver markings on it similar to Ichigo's Bankai coat. It turned out he had two of those silvery-blue swords, with a chain connecting them. Wings of the same colored energy as the column seen earlier were on his back.

"What happened…?" asked Aerín.

"This," Axel said, "is Doki no Shiruba-Getsu (Wrath of Silver Moon). It's my Bankai."


	13. Theater of Silver Feathers

"Bankai?" asked Aerín. "What's that?"

"Bankai (final stage)," said Axel. "It's generally a Shinigami's most powerful state, and is five to ten times stronger than his or her Shikai. I could go on, but I think you'd get bored quickly."

"It doesn't matter; you're boring anyway," said Aeron.

"SHUT UP!" Axel shouted at Aeron, throwing a sword at Aeron, knocking him over.

"OWWWWW!" yelled Aeron.

"Hmph. So that's your Bankai," said Frostelius.

"Oh? You sound like you've seen one before," said Axel.

"Well, I haven't, but I've heard reports of Shinigami using a technique called 'Bankai,'" said Frostelius.

"Ah," said Axel. "I see."

"But, Bankai or not, you still won't defeat me," said Frostelius, raising his bazooka. "Even a Bankai cannot defeat an Administrator!" The Bazooka glowed yellow, and a Super Missile blasted at Axel.

Axel watched it come. And then he brought up his blade so swiftly, the Super Missile was blasted off course by the mere wake of the blade! Straight back at Frostelius!

"What?" Frostelius used his Ice Path attack to get out of the way, not to mention plow into Aeron, who was just getting up.

"OWWWW!" yelled Aeron. "WHY DO I GET SLAMMED ALL THE TIME?"

Frostelius looked behind him and noticed that the Super Missile was still following him.

"WHAT? Why is it homing in on me?" yelled Frostelius. "I initiated a lock-on!"

"I used reiatsu to divert it as well," said Axel. "Your bazooka shells are merely exploding components of Reishi (Spirit Particles). Using reiatsu confused its targeting system, causing it to target the closest being to it."

Frostelius whirled and fired a Super Missile at the one coming towards him. But then Axel suddenly appeared and smacked both at Frostelius.

**BOOOOOOOOOM!**

After creating a shield of Ice to block the Super Missiles, Frostelius began blasting small freezer blasts at Axel.

Axel flapped his wings, and numerous Getsu Taiho blasts blasted out with each flap.

Freezers and Getsu Taiho blasts kept blasting each other down.

"Ha! I can easily defeat you this way. I can blast 70,000 Ice blasts per second. In that case, I'll just watch you-"

"Is that so?" said Axel. "Unfortunately, my wings blast 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 per _millisecond_."

"What?" said Frostelius. "NO FAIR!" he yelled as the blasts converged on him.

**BOOOOOOOOOM!**

Frostelius rode out on an ice path, and looked behind him. "He probably still thinks I'm th-where did he go?"

And then, silver wings enclosed around him.

"What?" He saw Axel flying backwards in front of him. Axel's wings surrounded Frostelius, and Axel let loose a barrage of Getsu Taiho blasts, making Frostelius be in an air pocket of doom.

" Grrr…Just because you caught me doesn't mean you'll beat me!" Frostelius blasted an ice missile at him.

Axel quickly zoomed away to dodge the blast.

Frostelius looked around. "Where is that winged fool?"

"Behind you, smart one," said Axel.

Frostelius merely blasted a shell behind him. And got struck in the back by it.

**BOOOOOOOOOOM!**

"Cool! Axel lobbed it like a grenade!" yelled Aerín.

"What's cool about that?" asked Aeron, knocking Ben out of his ice prison.

Axel jumped up into the air, and then saw an ice beam coming towards him. He quickly flew away.

Frostelius generated some ice armor again, and whirled to block Axel's blade.

"Wow, you actually blocked it? You're good," said Axel.

And then his other blade came up.

Frostelius' bazooka came up, blocking it.

And then Axel's foot came up.

**KLANK!**

_A critical hit!_

_It's super effective!_

"UGH!" Frostelius felt great pain. His bazooka came up, slamming Axel far away.

Axel jumped back up, and zoomed back at his opponent.

The two clashed, and then Axel flew off again. He swooped down, and blasted Frostelius high into the air.

Frostelius blasted several rockets infused with ice energy.

Axel dodged all of them, causing several icy patches to appear.

"That all you got?" he asked. "Come on. Show me your best shot."

"You want to see it? Fine! Prepare for your fall!" Frostelius charged up a shot with a lot of reiatsu infused in it, and blasted it at Axel.

Axel smacked it aside, and then it blasted around the room, bouncing all over the room on each of the ice patches and anything else icy, and then it returned to its owner.

**BLAMMMM!**

"WAAAAGH!" yelled Frostelius. He was sent flying into the huge white crystal in the center of the Temple.

No one could explain what happened next.

**ZZZZZZT!**

"WAAAAAAAGGH!" yelled Frostelius.

He was suddenly given a nasty shock from the crystal, and was flung out of the temple.

1: He slammed into the ground and bounced up high.  
2: He landed, hit a rock and started rolling.  
3: He hit another rock and went flying into the air, landing flat on his face.

"That has got to hurt," said Axel.

"You mean that fix _he_ got in?" asked Anabel, pointing at Sam.

"No. I mean our friend Frosty the Snowman over there," said Axel.

"Grrr…All right, we'll leave quietly today, but don't you get so arrogant!" yelled Frostelius. "Because someday, Cipher will crush you!"

"Yeah, whatever," said Axel, as Frostelius made a path of ice to make his getaway.

Sam was starting to regain consciousness, and Ben actually thawed out.

Axel looked at the crystal. _Hmmm…_ "Gardenia, would you mind if I grabbed the Lustrous and Adamant Orbs and a couple things from the museum?"

"Huh?" asked Gardenia.

_Later…_

Axel jumped to the top of the temple and positioned the blue and pink crystals into the niches in the top of the temple.

"What's he doing?" said Gardenia, who was annoyed he took some crystals from the museum.

"It appears that _this_ is a temple of light," said Axel. "The crystals are Aetherium, and we need the Lustrous and Adamant Orb to go on those pedestals. Got it?"

"Well, okay…" Gardenia placed the Orbs on the pedestals. They seemed to go there perfectly.

"Okay. Now comes the hardest part," said Axel. "We wait."

Chikorita immediately fired a Solarbeam at each of the crystals, energizing them with light.

"O….kay……" said Axel. "Guess we don't need to wait after all."

Light came down from the crystals, and struck the Lustrous and Adamant Orb. The two Orbs now glowed with sunlight, and it struck the white crystal in the center, causing it to begin to radiate light.

That's when a Corruption Bomb placed in the Gym went off.

Aeron's eyes widened and his hands shot up to the crystal, making it radiate intense white beams. The Corruption Field wavered in the light, then dispersed.

Ben couldn't help but notice that Axel's clothes seemed somewhat baleful in the light. "What happened? Why was it destroyed?"

"Because this is Eterna," said Axel. "The Forests of Light."

"Yes, and there's a shadowy character in here," said Anabel, making a joke about how Axel's powers were based on the night.

"Shut up," growled Axel.


	14. The word Mystery is a mystery to Cipher

"Okay," said Toshiro. "WHERE THE HECK HAVE WE ENDED UP THIS TIME?"

"Well, we've ended up in Canalave City," said Izuru.

"You're so lucky that you have the map," growled Toshiro.

"Come on, we have a job to do," said Momo.

"Right!" The Shinigami dashed off.

"We should be able to get help against Cipher here," said Volkner.

"Yeah, but what kind of help?" asked Uryu.

"The kind of help that blows up Cipher Peons," said Volkner.

"Okay, then…."said Kon.

"Hey, what's that cave over there?" asked Chad.

Uryu would have said it wasn't important, but then he noticed Toshiro, Momo and Izuru heading to the cave.

"It must be a Shinigami base!" he said.

"You still have a grudge against Shinigami?" Chad asked, a little annoyed.

"Okay, okay, fine, so I still have a grudge against them," said Uryu. "But what's wrong with being suspicious?"

"Ummm…because they're actually not as bad as you think?" said Chad.

"Look…whatever! Let's just go," said Uryu.

"Who do you think you are? What's your clearance?" said a HUGE Cipher Peon. Think of one the size of Exol, who may be appearing later in this story.

"Ummm….we need clearance?" said Toshiro.

"…HEY WAIT! WHAT IDIOT DOES A SHINIGAMI THINK HE IS RUNNING INTO A CIPHER BASE?" yelled the guy.

"Uh oh! He found out we're Shinigami!" Izuru yelled.

Uryu suddenly appeared and shot the guy with an arrow.

"Okay, I guess I was wrong. This wasn't some Shinigami operation," said Uryu. "But what are you doing here?"

"Well, there was a really dark reiatsu," said Toshiro. "We were deployed to investigate it."

"And, well, our summer vacation didn't go as we planned," said Orihime. "That's why _we're_ here."

"Okay…" Uryu turned to the cave. "Let's go in. Cipher's here."

_Inside the cave…:D_

Uryu looked around. "Why would Cipher do anything in this run-down cave? It's just a normal one!"

That's when they came into a large, circular room. Metal plating covered the floor, walls and ceiling to prevent it from collapsing. And there was nothing very special about the place, Uryu thought…until he noticed the large spherical objects on the racks nearby.

"Hey! Aren't those the Corruption Bombs that guy talked about in Sunyshore?" he said.

"Let's destroy them!" said Toshiro.

"No!" yelled Uryu. "If you're not careful, they might blow up in our faces!"

"Yeah," they heard, "And you shouldn't touch other people's things."

They whirled to see three Cipher Peons coming. They were wearing the oldest version of the Cipher Peon's outfit. One was blue, one red, and one green.

"Who the heck are you?" said Kon.

"I'm Verde," said the green guy. "These guys with me are Rosso (the red one) and Bluno (the blue one). Together, we are the Mystery Troop!"

"There's…nothing mysterious about you," Kon said.

"SHUT UP!" all three of them yelled.

"You'll pay for that little comment!" yelled Rosso.

"And we can't let you into the lab!" yelled Bluno.

"So we have TWO reasons to take you out!" they all yelled.

_Cipher Peons Verde, Rosso, and Bluno would like to battle!_

"Go, Grimer and Spoink!" yelled Verde.

"Go, Grimer and Spoink!" yelled Rosso.

"Go, Grimer and Spoink!" yelled Bluno.

"What the-? They all have the same Pokémon," said Kon.

"Hey, how come you get all the dialogue?" complained Uryu.

"Because I'm awesome," said Kon.

"No fair!" said Orihime.

The Mystery troop was getting very annoyed. And even more annoyed.

"HEY! WE ARE YOUR OPPONENTS! WE WANT A CHALLENGE GOD DANG IT!" they yelled at the arguing good guys.

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO YELL!" Uryu yelled back.

"THEN WHY ARE YOU YELLING?" they yelled.

"Um…." Uryu couldn't come up with a comeback.

"YEAH, SEE? IF YOU CAN, THEN WE CAN YELL ALL WE WANT!" they yelled.

"We could be here for days on end, and still not get past these guys…" Chad muttered to himself.

_Ten days later…_

The Mystery Troop and Uryu were still yelling at each other. XD.

Momo was getting annoyed.

And so….

"HADO 31: SHAKAHO!" she yelled, blasting the shot of red fire between the two sides of the yelling argument.

"WHOA!" they all yelled. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

"Can you guys stop yelling?" said Momo. "I'm getting a little tired of it."

"IF HE CAN, THEN WE CAN YELL ALL WE WANT!" yelled Verde.

"I told you to STOP YELLING!" Momo released her Shikai, Tobiume, and blasted fireballs that knocked out all the Spoinks and Grimers.

"OH, YOU'VE ASKED FOR IT!" they yelled.

"Go, Camerupt and Grovyle!" yelled Verde.

"Go, Sharpedo and Combusken!" yelled Rosso.

"Go, Breloom and Marshtomp!" yelled Bluno.

"Huh?" Uryu sensed their reiatsu and found that Grovyle, Combusken and Marshtomp were all Shadow Pokémon.

"Oh, great!" said Uryu. "We don't have a Snag Machine, so we can't get those Shadow Pokémon."

"Well, then, if we can't snag them, we beat them!" Toshiro sent a wave of ice and froze up Grovyle and Breloom.

Izuru raised his sword and tried to cut down Combusken, but his adversary brought up a wing and used Shadow Rush to block the attack.

"We can still beat you!" yelled Verde, Rosso, and Bluno.

"Really?" said Chad. He raised his left arm, and it morphed into a more aggressive form that was white and red and sported a spike on the shoulder.

"Brazo Izquierda del Diablo (Left Arm of the Devil)," he said. He raised his hand and unleashed a punch that mowed down all the Pokémon.

"Uh…um…" the Cipher Peons were stunned. "Well, we'll report this! And you'll never get OUT of the lab alive!" They dashed through the door they came from.

"Lord Shooter!"

"Huh?" A guy in a somewhat western getup turned towards a Cipher Peon in gold armor.

"The Shinigami, Quincy, and their friends have stormed the lab right at the cave entrance. They present a 45 percent threat to our base."

"Stop the percentages, Snidle. It's annoying. But, anyway, we should be able to stop them." The guy reached over his shoulder and pulled a shotgun out. The western guy pointed it at the tunnel, and began shooting bullets. Some were regular, but some were flaming!

Uryu looked up. "What the-?" He saw the bullets coming towards them. They slammed into the cave when our heroes dodged them. But many more kept coming.

Suddenly, there was a rumble. The shells had broken up the metal plating, and the ground rushed down to fall on them.

Immediately, they ran out of the cave, dodging more shells.

More bullets kept coming. Were they going to make it?

"Do ya think the bullets shoulda stopped them?" asked Shooter.

"I think, sir," said Snidle.

"Good. We'll have nothing to worry about now."

Uryu (our heroes had escaped the mine) looked up and saw them leaving.

The cowboy guy blew smoke off the tip of his gun. "I loves my gun," he said.


	15. Mirrors are unnecessary around Gladias

**Hello, everyone. Thank you for actually making it to Chapter 19 without saying "OH MY GOD THIS STORY SUCKS I'M NOT GONNA READ IT ANYMORE!"**

**I decided to edit the chapter. Hope you enjoy, and sorry I don't have anything awesome to say.**

* * *

A couple days after Ash and co. defeated Don Panini (Dordondii), Candice woke up. "Owww…" _That poisoned blade sure hurt._

"Okay, looks like you're awake now."

Candice looked up and saw Winona above her. "Winona? But…weren't you in Hoenn?"

"I came as quickly as I could. I came a bit too late, though."

Candice tried to get up, but immediately buckled and fell back down.

"You probably shouldn't get up at this time," Winona informed her.

"Got it, I guess…"

* * *

"Yeah?" Shooter picked up his radio.

"Shooter, it's Rocky. Our Demon Pokémon have been a success. We need you to deploy a Demon Pokémon at your location. It appears that there are potential threats near your location. We need to stop them."

"Okay. Where d'I get the Pokémon?"

"Smarton will deliver it to your location." Immediately, a Ciphercopter arrived and landed, with the Lieutenant Smarton inside. "Also, when you're finished, we need you to return to the factory."

"All right. We got it. Later, Shooter."

"See ya, Rocky."

* * *

Wallace looked around the area they had gone to. _Something is wrong in this area…_

Ash looked at him. "Hey, Wallace, is something wrong?"

"Something seems wrong around here…" Wallace beckoned Winona over. "We'll figure out what's going on here."

"Okay…" As the two left, Ash couldn't help but notice that there was a very strange aura in this area…

* * *

Wallace and Winona arrived at the spot and found a Cipher Peon in gold colored armor, a guy with a western appearance, and a Cipher Peon with an alternate armor set.

"Well, that Demon should take care of everything," said the Western guy.

"Yes, it should," said the Gold Cipher Peon guy. "Those who oppose us should have a .00000001 percent chance against it."

"What's all this talk about?" Wallace said.

All three jumped and then noticed him.

"Shucks!" said the cowboy guy. "Well, I think I'd better bolt. Snidle! I'm goin' back to the factory. Teach these two a lesson about getting' hurt."

"Sir, yes Sir!" yelled Snidle.

While Shooter climbed into the Ciphercopter, Snidle turned to Smarton, the guy with the alternate armor. "Well, you heard him. You take them on."

Smarton was shocked. "What? That-that wasn't what you said! Besides, you have less rank than me because Cipher Commander has been made lower than the Lieutenant Rank!"

"Allow me to explain with reason," said Snidle. "We have a crucial job at the Factory. We need to make Shadow Pokémon. If you were to do the job, you would put up 38 percent more effort than I. In that case, Lord Shooter would become 72 percent more exasperated than usual." He gestured towards Wallace and Winona. "Were you to take these two on in my place, our productivity would increase by 86 percent. Do you understand? This is for efficiency's sake. Now, I must get going."

He jumped onto the Ciphercopter just as it took off.

Smarton watched them go and sighed. "Why do I get the feeling I've been had?"

"Um…because you're an idiot?" said Winona.

"Oh, shut up," said Smarton.

* * *

_Cipher Lieutenant Smarton would like to battle!_

"Go, Ursaring and Lairon!" yelled Smarton.

"Go, Milotic!" yelled Wallace.

"Go, Swellow!" yelled Winona.

"Lairon, use Dragon Rush!" yelled Smarton.

Swellow quickly flew out of the way of Lairon's attack and then fired a point-blank Hyper Beam.

**BLAMMMM!**

Even when Hyper Beam only had a quarter of its effectiveness, Lairon was definitely going to feel that one in the morning.

* * *

Ash sighed, absolutely bored. There was very little to do here.

Nearby, Candice was up and, despite Winona's advice to stay in bed, had decided to practice using her Zanpaku-to.

She swung it upward, to the left, diagonally to her right and down, brought it back and jabbed the air, swung it back up and brought it down in a cleave...and slashed and nearly took off Pikachu's head.

Pikachu, who had been eating an apple at the time, jumped down from the rock he was sitting on in time, and held out both his front paws. The apple was cut in half above him and the pieces landed neatly in his paws. Pikachu loudly scolded Candice for nearly killing him.

"Oops, sorry Pikachu." Candice sighed. "I'm just not really used to using a sword."

"And good for you," said Paul sarcastically. He sat back. "You've got cool powers, but you couldn't defeat me if your life depended on it."

Candice gave him an annoyed look. "And why's that?"

"I mean in battles with swords," said Paul. "Watch closely."

He drew from his pocket a silver and black device (similar to the D-tector from Digimon frontier), thumbing a button. Then the _kanji_ for "steel" appeared on the screen. "Let's do this, Gladias."

A silvery outline of an ancient Pokemon with a humanoid body flared to life in a background of darkness. Paul pulled back the device from the view, revealing that the Pokemon was blazed on the small screen. He raised his left hand, and a sphere of silver power flared to life, with the kanji for steel shining within. He then whipped both hands to the side, and then back to unite the sphere with the device.

"Come forth, my friend!" he yelled, a strange silvery reiatsu emanating from his body in a wild and untamed torrent. "Steel Elemental Resurrection!" he shouted, whipping the device away. Within Paul's spiritual essence, deep in his inner world, the kneeling form of the Pokemon straightened, black eyeholes filling with the ethereal light and unleashing a similar reiatsu that blasted against everything that was nearby.

Steel fragments raised out of the ground and enveloped Paul in a swirling cloud of blades. The mass of metal whirled away from Paul's body, revealing a powerful armored body, silver with golden trimming. On his chest plate was the greek word alpha, and on his cape had it too. His head looked somewhat like that of Wargreymon from digimon, except smoother and more uniform in color.

"Hyaah!" Paul loosed a battle cry, jumping from his "evolution dimension" and landing upon a silver circle with the kanji for steel. He swung his massive, ornate two-hand sword twice, and then slammed it tip-first into the ground in front of him, stood straight and folded his arms. "Gladias Alpha!"

"Whoa...is that a Pokemon? It looks hundreds of years old." Candice pulled out a Pokedex and scanned Gladias.

"Unknown Pokemon," it said.

"What?" Candice was shocked. "This thing is the latest Pokédex! How could this be unknown if it was here a hundred years ago?"

"Clearly, you have no idea what I'm talking about when I use the term 'forbidden,'" said the new Pokemon, with a much deeper and less arrogant voice.

"Forbidden?"

"Forbidden are a specific class of Pokemon. All of the Pokemon in this category are either are as strong as or stronger as Pokemon much like Rayquaza (in power) when they have not ascended to the divine level," said Gladias. "Such Pokemon were fairly common and immensly disruptive due to their immense power. And now, you're about to get schooled by one."

"Huh? Wait-"

With astounding speed Gladias bore down on Candice, his sword flashing and yet his form obscuring the light.

No words of mine can describe how fiercely Gladias struck at Candice and how immensly powerful he was, so I won't even try to describe things to you.

* * *

"Go, Cacturne!"

Smarton, Wallace and Winona were still at it.

"Swellow, Sky Attack!" yelled Smarton.

Swellow emmanated a white aura and slammed down on top of Cacturne.

"Ouch, he's going to fell that in the morning," said Wallace.

"Grrr..." Smarton was getting frustrated.

"You're never going to win, **S**tupid **M**alevolent** A**rrogant** R**etarded** T**ripping** O**bnoxious** N**oob!" Winona yelled at him.

"You know, I think being around Axel isn't very good for you..." said Wallace.

"Shut up," said Winona.

"You are going to pay dearly for calling me that!" yelled Smarton.

"Oh, really?" asked Wallace. "You and what army?"

Smarton growled. _I _really _hate these guys._

* * *

Candice was really beat.

She and Gladias had strayed away from the camp in their battle and Gladias was way too much, being steel and being so powerful.

"Come on, you can't be that exhausted already!" yelled Gladias.

"All right," replied Candice. "_You _try using a power that you barely even know how to use while recovering from a poisoned blade and fighting a walking plexiglass mirror that is as tough as steel."

"Yes, I do see your point," said Gladias.

"Hey, guys!" Ash yelled, arriving with Dawn and Brock. "Lunch is ready!"

"Oh, that's always good news!" said Gladias.

**THOOM!**

The earth shook with that booming sound. At the same time, Ash, Gladias, and Candice felt an immensely powerful but somewhat dark presence nearing.

**THOOM!**

"What is...that?" Ash looked in the direction of the intense darkness.

**THOOM!**

"Whatever it is, it's getting closer!" yelled Dawn.

**THOOM!**

"I hate Mondays," muttered Renji. (It was a monday.) "I always have bad luck on them."

**THOOM!**

"You have bad luck _everyday_," said Rukia.

**THOOM!**

"It should be on top of us now!" yelled Ichigo.

**KRASH!**

The trees were yanked away and torn out of the ground by...

"It's a Rhyperior!" yelled Candice.

"A really _angry_one," amended Gladias.

"Well, we can still take him down!" yelled Ash. He reached for his Pokedex...and came up empty handed.

"Hey! Where's my Pokedex?" he yelled.

"You left it back at camp," said Dawn.

Ash gulped. "We're dead," he said.

* * *

"Milotic, Hydro Pump!"

They were still at it! (Not for much longer...)

Ursaring leapt high above the attack. "Urrrrr...!" he roared, preparing himself to use Giga Impact.

A moment later, he zoomed down towards Milotic, roaring.

"Altaria, Protect!"

Altaria zoomed in front of the blast, a glowing shield of energy in front of her.

Ursaring's claw scraped the shield, but could not penetrate it.

"Now, Milotic!" yelled Wallace. "Hydro Pump!"

Ursaring leapt out of the way, but the jet of water bounced off of Altaria's Protect and slammed into Ursaring.

"This could take a bit," said Wallace.

* * *

Gladias dashed towards Rhyperior, blade flashing.

"Haaaaaaaah!" He let out a battle cry, and jumped into the air above Rhyperior.

Rhyperior merely drew his fist back and punched Gladias.

"Aaahhhh!" Gladias fell back to earth. "That actually hurt! What's with this thing?"

Ash raised a hand, had his aura flow to it, and generated a blast of aura at the Rhyperior.

Rhyperior stumbled in surprise, but recovered and threw a rock at Ash.

"OWWWWWW!" yelled Ash.

If you want to know how they were doing, they were doing terribly. Rhyperior had wiped out all of Ash and Dawn's Pokemon, and Gladias wasn't very shiny now.

Candice ran behind Rhyperior, then pointed her blade at him, blasting a concentrated, tiny but potent beam of icy energy at Rhyperior.

Rhyperior whirled, and his fist got frozen, but he just flexed his muscles and the ice shattered.

Actually, Ash still had one Pokemon left. He had stopped at a PC earlier.

"Go! Snorlax!" he shouted.

Snorlax came out...snoring and relaxed.

Rhyperior: "..."

Gladias:"..."

Ichigo: "..."

Everyone else fell over in exasperation.

"Thank you for nothing, you gigantic useless teddy bear. WAKE UP! SHAKAHO!" Unfortunately, Renji's "wake up call" blew up in his face.

Snorlax rolled over, and knocked Rhyperior off balance when Rhyperior tried to do a jump attack. (How does a guy that heavy jump?)

Rhyperior roared in surprise and fell on his face.

"Snorlax! Self Destruct!" yelled Ash.

"What? Nooooooo...!" Gladias raced to get out of the blast zone.

"Now!" yelled Ash.

HUSH...

"Zzzsnore..." Snorlax was still asleep.

Rhyperior: "..."

Gladias: "..."

Ichigo: "..."

Everyone else fell over in exasperation.

"Thank you for nothing, you useless giant teddy bear. WAKE UP! SHAKKAHO!" Unfortunately, Renji's "wake up call" blew up in his face (again).

"Give it up, Renji. Unless you're a Pokemon trying to learn Explosion," said Rukia.

"*cough* Okay! I realize that I'm still worthless at kido!" yelled Renji.

"Thank _you_ for nothing, then!" yelled Gladias as he dashed towards Rhyperior and got a punch in the face, sending him flying (again).

Ichigo used Renji's head as a footstool and landed on top of Rhyperior. "Getsuga Tensho!" he yelled. But that did barely anything (except get Rhyperior mad). He threw Ichigo off into the distance somewhere.

Candice looked at Ash. "Ash, have you figured out that strange aura you were sensing?"

"It got closer last time I sensed it, but it's so strong, my senses are screwed up by it," said Ash.

"Convenient," Candice sarcastically commented, and then she jumped away.

Gladias attacked from one side of Rhyperior and Candice from another. Rhyperior just swatted both of them away.

Ash dashed towards Rhyperior and blasted away with spheres of aura. (I would say that he was doing worse than a Lucario.)

Rhyperior merely growled in annoyance, and his fist zoomed towards Ash.

It was there that Ash noticed something.

_Rhyperiors are gray and orange...is this one red and black?_

He didn't have time to answer that before Rhyperior punched him.

As Ash was hurled through the air, he noticed that Rhyperior's hand was displaying an aura...like red fire!

He didn't have anymore time to notice things, because he hit the rock at that point.

* * *

Smarton was really getting annoying now.

The fight had lasted for a pretty long while, with Smarton almost consantly using Full Restores and Max Revives.

"How many Full Restores and Max Revives could a guy get?" wondered Winona.

"It would be understandable if he could get his hands on plenty of one or the other, but lots and lots and lots of both? It's ridiculous!" muttered Wallace.

"My weekly paycheck's pretty high," said Smarton.

"I've had enough!" Wallace shouted. He stretched his hand to the side, and emitted a bright blue reiatsu. And Kai-ryu Shukun manifested in his hand without him saying a word.

"What are you going to do?" taunted Smarton. "Give me a shower? I like mine to be around 32 degrees Celcius, by the way."

"How about 0 degrees-Kelvin?" replied Wallace, blasting him with a beam of nothing but pure cold. Absolute Zero. (That's just cold!)

Smarton was frozen in place, along with his Pokemon.

"Your paycheck won't get you through _this_ Ice Age," said Wallace triumphantly.

"How do you think the others are doing?" asked Winona.

**BLAMMMMM!**

A huge dust cloud was kicked up.

"I'd say...very badly," replied Wallace.

Winona stepped forward, vanishing in a blur. Wallace followed on an ice path.

* * *

_Things are going pretty badly back with Gladias and co. Let's just say they're having a really bad day._

Gladias was knocked back hard. Again.

Candice blasted Rhyperior with a blizzard, which didn't seem to faze Rhyperior at all. Again.

Even Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho wouldn't work.

Ash dug himself out of the rock and popped a Revive into Pikachu's mouth. Pikachu immediately sprang up.

"Pikachu, go back to camp," he said. "Get my Pokedex, and bring it back here as fast as you can. Hurry!"

Pikachu ran off in the direction of the camp.

"Now, we have to hold off this guy until Pikachu comes back. A real piece of cake," Ash muttered.

"What is with this Rhyperior?" Gladius muttered.

"Guys, there's something wrong with this Rhyperior!" yelled Ash. "Look at it! It's not orange and gray! This Rhyperior isn't normal!"

Candice and Gladius stared hard at it.

"Red and..." Gladias was shocked.

"...black?" Candice was also pretty surprised.

Rhyperior, roaring, punched Candice. His fist was a bright red.

"Ugh-" _It's like a Shadow Pokemon's energy-magnified greatly!_

Candice was sent flying back into the rock, but got back up and sent another wave of cold at Rhyperior.

Rhyperior was just not fazed by it. And they finally found out why.

"His hide is enhanced with Shadow!" yelled Gladias.

"Getsuga Tensho!" yelled Ichigo, blasting it at Rhyperior.

Rhyperior growled and punched right through the blast.

"Wha-?" Ichigo, too, was stunned.

Rhyperior held his hands out and rocks zoomed into his hands. They formed a huge ball of rock.

"It's Rock Wrecker!" yelled Gladias.

Suddenly, red fire zoomed from his hands into the rock. Usually, the rock was outlined with red, but this time, it was like the whole thing was coursing with red.

"What in-" Gladias didn't have time to think much more of it before the rock was blasted into him. It blasted apart, bombarding him with rocks, and then the red fire.

Gladias yelled in pain. Almost immediately, his armor was blasted apart...leaving just Paul.

Pikachu jumped on top of a rock. "Pika!" he called, waving Ash's Pokedex.

"Good, Pikachu! Toss it here!" shouted Ash.

Pikachu threw it to Ash. Meanwhile, Paul got up. And he was not happy.

"Okay," growled Paul. "You, sir, are in for it now." He pulled out his Pokedex and thumbed the button, allowing the _kanji_ for "steel" to appear again, but this time, surrounded in a golden ring. "Gladius!" he muttered. "One more time. And we won't fail this time."

Ash held up his own Pokedex, thumbing the button and allowing the _kanji_ for "fighter" to appear. "Come on, Auralda!" he whispered.

On the screens of both Pokedexes, an ancient Pokemon, never seen by the eyes of many, appeared, roaring. Ash and Paul pulled back their Pokedexes and held out their free hands, which generated spheres that were bright blue (for Ash) and silver (for Paul). But these were more jagged, as if they were barely-just barely-constricted into such a shape. The two brought them together and yelled:

(Ash:) "Come forth, my friend! Champion Fighting Elemental Resurrection!" A blue whirlwind whipped up around him, drawing in strange, free floating blue particles.

(Paul:) "Come forth, my friend! Champion Steel Elemental Resurrection!" A silver whirlwind whipped up around him, drawing in many steel fragments. This whirlwind was more wild than the previous one he had whipped up.

Within their inner worlds, immensly powerful beings rose, etheral light flowing through them.

The blue typhoon started to die down, revealing powerful arms. These carried kites similar to Aldamon's (from Digimon's fourth season). And then his full form started to appear. An aerodynamically armored lower half was revealed, with sleek talons designed for running at high speed, or doing anything else fast. His torso had a similarily sleek armor, form-fitting and more for quick movement than defensive power. Wings shining with an aura untamable by mere mortals spread from his back, flapping briefly to clear the storm from his head, which looked similar to Zephyrmon's (also from Digimon Frontier, fourth season), but was more male, with slightly fiercer eyes, and the wings on his head pointed backwards more, and the feathers were longer and sleeker. They actually pointed backwards rather than downwards. The mask also covered a bit more of his face. All over his body, aura flickered and surged, ready to do some butt-kicking.

The new Pokemon flew down towards a blue circle with the kanji for "Fighter". He landed on his knee, swept his arms to the sides and unleashed a fury of aura in all directions. He then jumped up and spun himself around in a vortex of aura before coming down standing tall. "G-Force Auralda!" he shouted.

The vortex of metal was starting to whirl into a new shape. It was human, like its predecessor, but much more powerful. An ornate armor was revealed, silvery with golden trimming. It was decorated with the final Greek letter: the Omega. Slightly clawed fingers stretched from the whirling mass, and then brushed it away as if it were nothing but a cloth obscuring what was going on. The headplate was revealed, similar to Wargreymon (AGAIN) but the nose horn had a golden edge, and the bottom jaw was made of gold. The forehead was adorned with the Omega, and the back of the helmet had spikes, almost like hair except it was made of metal. Then again, he's the elemental of steel, so why can't his hair be steel, too? Man! Even the cape, colored scarlet with a yellow-orange edge on the bottom and adorned with a similarly colored Omega (man we're getting obsessed with that part), made him look unbeatable.

High above, a blade winked into existence. It was perfect, like a newly forged one. It also seemed to be adamant and unbeatable in every way_. _Written on it, in flowing greek, were the words: _After the Alpha comes the Omega, the final power. _The blade spun down, and the figure reached out in a blindingly fast move, catching it, and then jumping down himself, his majestic cape flaring out behind him. He slammed down upon a silvery circle with the kanji for gold (because it looks cooler), loosing a battle-roar. He threw his sword upwards just after he landed, and after it spun twice he jumped up to grab it, sommersaulted in midair and slammed down again. He blasted his surroundings (concealed by the nature of the evolution dimension) with spheres of silvery light, sent shockwaves from his sword as he slashed twice, and finally slammed it into the ground, point facing down. He folded his arms."Gladias Omega!"

Dawn shielded her eyes. "Aaah!" she yelled. "My eyes!" (If you're wondering, Gladias' armor is so perfect, it hurts their eyes pretty badly.)

The Rhyperior growled in surprise. He took on a fighting stance, but Auralda was already on top of him. Auralda placed his hands together and pulled them apart, revealing an aura sphere. "Take this!" he shouted. He thrust it forward with his right hand, blasting Rhyperior away.

Gladius ran towards Rhyperior. He raised his sword. It glowed with an immense silver light. "Omega Blast!" he shouted, sending the immense light burst at Rhyperior, slamming him high into the air. "Alpha Strike!" he shouted, zooming up and delivering an immense blow to Rhyperior with his sword.

And then Auralda was above Rhyperior. His wings flared out, with an immense shine and size. Aura accumulated at his hands. "Aura Storm!" he yelled. He blasted an immense beam of aura at Rhyperior, sending him flying back down to ground.

Then Gladias landed on top of him. He impaled his sword into the ground not an inch away from the Drill Pokemon's head.

"Delta Destroyer!" he shouted.

The sword flashed. Highly explosive metals were generated and exploded into huge masses of energy, devestating Rhyperior.

When the mass of energy cleared, Rhyperior had fainted.

Ichigo raised a Pokeball, but when he pressed the button, it turned into the Snag Machine! He whirled a Pokeball into his palm and threw it at the Rhyperior.

The Pokeball shook once, and then the button glowed red.

"Yes! I got it!" shouted Ichigo.

"Hey, how come you got to Snag it?" asked Renji.

"'Cause I got the least airtime!" yelled Ichigo. "Right?"

"Well, I guess that's the case, since you only got a couple sentences," said Wallace, who just showed up.

"What?" yelled Rukia. "But I got only one sentence!"

"Not anymore," said Winona.

"I got less airtime!" yelled Ichigo.

"No, I did!"

This started a pretty big brawl. We'll leave them for now.

* * *

**Random Bonus Story...XD**

Axel and Aeron were playing _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_. Axel was Marth, and Aeron was Ike. They were teaming up to destroy Metaknight and Snake (CPUs).

"Hey, Aeron, I can jump higher than you!" Axel declared. "In fact, I can MOON JUMP!"

"Really?" Aeron asked. "Prove it!"

"Watch!" Axel began pushing the joystick (he used the Classic Controller) upwards repeatedly, and Marth jumped up...and up...and up...and up...and up...

Suddenly Marth descended and smashed Metaknight in the face. "Take that!" Axel shouted, and proceeded to do a bunch of awesome midair combos.

Axel prepared to deal a finishing blow to Metaknight, but then Aeron suddenly came up and slashed with Aether, sending Metaknight flying. "Muahaha!" Aeron shouted.

"DANG YOU, AERON!" Axel shouted, and just proceeded to attack Snake, pretty angry his KO was stolen.

But then Aeron began tapping his own joystick (Aeron used the Wii Remote and Nunchuck) upwards, and Ike jumped up...and up...and up...and up...and up...

"You aren't the only one who can moon jump, Axel!" Aeron shouted. "See?" And then he came down on Snake with Aether, smashing him upwards.

"I bet I can jump higher than you!" Axel shouted, and Marth jumped all the way up to Snake, who was offscreen at this point, and did a Dolphin Slash... "CRAAAAAAAP!" Axel suddenly shouted as both Marth and Snake went flying over the horizon. (Marth went up too high.)

Axel started acting like he was dying...in REAL LIFE. "See why Moon Jumps aren't such a great thing now?" Aeron asked.

* * *

**Moral:**

**Moon Jumping isn't always a good idea...unless you're an Astronaut.**

* * *

**Okay, the first Random Bonus Story now! Credit goes to Tomato3456 for this idea, because it's really based off of his.**

**Thanks for reading, and I'm sorry I'm out of things to say! Except...**

**REEVIIIEEEW! NOOOOOOOOW!**


	16. WHAT? Axel isn't sleeping!

Aeron was really annoyed.

Axel obviously wasn't expecting five other people staying in his house. Fortunately, Aeron could sleep on the floor without much discomfort.

Unfortunately, Axel's Groudon had seen him as a comfortable pillow and sat on him. So, Aeron had concluded that being trapped between a rock (head) and a hard place was something he could do without. Sleeping between those was impossible to the tenth power. Combine that with Ben's snoring and you'd probably go nuts.

Aeron looked outside. At least the stars looked great out there tonight. He also detected the sweet smell of honey. Apparently someone had smeared it on lots of trees, desperate to get a Munchlax or something. He suddenly saw something blue jump past.

_Oh no...Axel let Suicune out of his Pokeball and forgot to put him in again._

Aeron sighed and tried to get up, which caused Groudon to tip over.

Aeron quickly rushed to his other side and pushed Groudon upright. Somehow, this guy could sleep sitting up.

Aeron looked around and did a quick check to see if no one had been woken up or anything. He sighed in relief when he found four people asleep.

That was short-lived, because then he remembered that there should have been five. Who was missing?

_Let's see..._

Ben?_ Duh, I can tell he's asleep. Who else snores so loudly?_

Sam? _Sleeping on the sofa._

Anabel? _With Aerin in Axel's bed. That takes care of Aerin, too._

Axel?

_Where _is _that lazy bum?_

_There he is!..._

_On the roof?_

Puzzled, Aeron went outside to get on top.

_Any reason why that lazy bum would have been doing _anything_other than sleeping is preety hard to fathom,_ he thought.

* * *

Axel sat on the roof, gazing at the midnight sky, which was strangely glazed with gold from the temple's radiance.

It was the temple that was on Axel's mind.

He heard something and whirled with sword drawn.

"Hey!" Aeron yelled. "You shouldn't point your sword at your own brother."

"Reflex," said Axel. "What's wrong? Worried that your hair is graying and you don't want anything to see?"

"Any reason why you wouldn't be napping at this time causes trouble," replied Aeron. "What the heck are you doing up here?

"Aeron, what do you know about the Temples of Light?" Axel asked.

"Everything except where _all _of them are. I only know where some are," Aeron said.

"And all those are in Hoenn or Kanto. Convenient," said Axel sarcastically.

Aeron raised a finger. "Don't forget, there's Johto, too," he reminded Axel.

"You hate that place full of buildings, so any knowledge besides of Legendary Pokemon and Gym Leaders would be a surprise," Axel said.

"I had to go there, and I stumbled on one by accident, so I had to check it out, you know? That resulted in finding the rest of the Johto temples," Aeron said.

"Mm-hm. Well, if you're clueless about why I brought up this topic, are you aware that the temple we activated today was one of these?" asked Axel.

"I had a sneaking suspicion," said Aeron.

"And everything else that's sneaking just slides past your notice."

Hearing that female voice jolted Aeron up. "Who said that?" Aeron asked, turning in that direction. But the speaker was gone.

Suddenly, bright blue blades appeared, crossed in front of his neck, not even a decimeter away from his face. "Dead," came the voice again.

Aeron smiled. "Okay, you got me, Hanna, now lower the blades."

"It's amazing how oblivious the greatest (and oldest) teenager in the entire world can be to his surroundings," said Hanna, smiling.

If I have to go over this, fine. Hanna had orange hair and a blue robe. Not like Axel's.

"Suicune went missing," Aeron informed Axel.

"AGAIN?" yelled Axel.

"It's your own fault for forgetting to recall him," said Hanna.

"No I didn't. This is the reason." Axel held up a burst Pokeball with ice on the inside.

Aeron took a look at the Pokeball. "Huh? Wait a minute..." he swept his finger through the "ice", and swept through it like it was some kind of cream.

Aeron his finger in his mouth. "Hm, blue flavor-ice," Aeron noted.

"If Suicune escaped due to the _flavor-_ice expanding, I think he's a bit of a glutton." Axel sighed. "If you guys knew how many Net Balls I've used on him..."

"That bad, huh?" asked Aeron.

"Worse. WAY worse." Axel looked like he wasn't kidding.

That's when they noticed Suicune-licking the honey off the trees!

"Go! Net Ball!" Axel threw the Net Ball towards Suicune.

Too bad for him, because Suicune finished and ran off. The Net Ball stuck fast to the tree on a patch of honey that Suicune actually missed.

"Arrgh," muttered Axel.

"Well, that sure turned out well," said Aeron sarcastically.

"Suicune always puts sweets over everything else in the world, huh?" asked Hanna.

"Pretty much," said Axel.

Meanwhile, Suicune had completely finished up all the honey in the area, and had detected honey elsewhere, so he had run off. In that time, Axel had made many (failed) attemps at recapturing Suicune. So there were Net Balls sticking to all the trees, which were all still very sticky.

"Too bad for you that your Pokemon _servant_ won't listen to you," they heard. "In fact, _none_ of your Pokemon will listen to you. Because they're all snoozing!"

Axel whirled to see multiple Cipher Peons. "Hey! Suicune's a _friend_! Don't think of him as a servant, mystery bad guy voice! And you're a mystery because I can't tell who said it in that huge crowd!"

"We've got you surrounded," said the person in charge. "Surrender. Or else."

"I'm afraid we'll be going with..." Axel said, drawing his sword.

"Else," they all said.

And the brawl began.

* * *

Meanwhile, everyone else (except perhaps Ben) was having difficulty sleeping. It isn't exactly easy to sleep through a brawl on the roof.

Anabel groaned and rolled over. Aerin followed her lead. In the process, they accidentally pushed Solana, Anabel's Espeon, off the bed.

_THUMP!_

Solana cried out in surprise and a bit of pain, because she hit the foot of the nightstand. She instantly unleashed a mental rant on Anabel and Aerin...and realized they weren't listening. They were snoozing.

_Oh, never mind._

That was about the time when Solana saw Axel battling a Gallade with his own sword outside.

_If Axel resorts to using his sword, that's bad news._

Solana started to sneak out the open window. Then she noticed Pikachu and Chikorita sleeping peacefully next to each other. (It _was_ Axel's room, after all.)

Solana sighed. _Looks like I have to wake up those two._She jumped onto a chair, onto a desk, onto Axel's highest shelf... and then fell on top of Pikachu and Chikorita.

The two cried out in surprise and pain from the impact and started freaking out on Solana for giving them such a rude wake-up call.

_Yeah, okay, I'm sorry and all that. Look, I know that was really rude, but if you haven't noticed, your human buddy is getting his butt whupped._

"Oh..." And so, Pikachu and Chikorita followed her out of the window.

Espeon was still snoozing.

_Much as I'll be in for it later...WAKE UP, MOM!_Solana unleashed a Shadow Ball on Espeon, giving her a very painful wake up call.

Espeon screamed loud enough to deal nothing short of a crippling blow to the Pokemon, and woke up Anabel, Aerin and Sam.

Sam looked around, startled. "What was that?" He saw nothing. "Oh. I was just imagining it." He glared at Ben, who was still snoring loudly.

Sam pulled out earplugs and stuffed them in his ears, and went back to sleep.

Aerin jolted awake and immediately clutched Anabel with all her might, and there was an audible crack.

Anabel's face was unbelieveably white. "_Aerin..._" she said in a strained voice. "_Let me go-please-"_

They turned (Aerin letting go of Anabel) and saw the Pokemon sleeping peacefully.

"I guess we just imagined it," Anabel sighed.

And so...they went back to sleep.

Solana perked up. _That was close,_ she, er, "said" to them.

"Yeah, _too_close," said Chikorita.

"Let's go!" yelled Pikachu.

They jumped out the window...and met a Eggsecutor on the way out.

_Bye bye!_Solana blasted him in the face with a Shadow Ball, and Pikachu jumped out with Extreme Speed, bonking Eggsecutor on the head in the process.

"Was that too cruel?" Chikorita wondered, raising her leaf to the sky.

Solana's response:_Naaaah._

"Umm...yeah. Okay."

Pikachu blasted a Tentacruel in the face with Thunderbolt. "Less talk, more beatdown!"

"Just you wait," said Chikorita. "Espeon, cover for me." Her leaf began to glow with rapidly lightening shades of green.

_Right!_Espeon sent a Toxicroak reeling with Psychic. _How long will it take?_

"Since the sun's down, I'm afraid I'll be vulnerable for 5 minutes at least," Chikorita replied, looking a bit unhappy about this.

_Wonderful,_Espeon said sarcastically.

* * *

Axel and Gallade continued to brawl edge-to-edge.

Gallade was at a servere disadvantage, but he still held on. Axel noticed that wrapped around his arms were lots of Focus Bands and Focus Sashes and stuff like that. Axel was getting annoyed.

"Oh, whatever!" Axel grabbed Gallade's arm and moved his sword to slash up the Focus Bands and stuff, but Gallade used his other arm to block that.

Aeron did the work for him. He slashed right through all the Focus Bands and stuff from behind Gallade.

Axel kicked Gallade off the roof. "Nice, Aeron!" he called.

"Don't bother me! You want me to get Cross Poisoned?" yelled Aeron. He swung his blade swiftly to block a Drapion's claws.

"Yeah, good point-hey, at least warn me when you send a Salamence to attack me!" Axel yelled, turning to block a Salamence's claw.

* * *

_As much as I like sunny weather, I really hate imitations of it,_ thought Hanna.

She was using her Zanpaku-to to block a barrage of Solarbeams from a group of Cherim, and Cipher Peons were holding Solar Lamps over them to fully charge them. By the way, when she surprised Aeron, she already had it released.

Chikorita noticed all the Solarbeams being knocked aside. "Espeon!" she called. "Try and refract the sunlight from those Solarbeams!"

_Already on it,_Espeon said. Reaching out with psychic, she scattered the light in the Solarbeams, destroying the coherency and thereby rendering the firepower of Solarbeam as soooooo much sunlight.

Chikorita smiled and pulled it all into her leaf. Now it was really, really light green.

That's when she noticed the Cherim and the Solar Lamps. She quickly jumped right next to them and Vine Whipped them off the roof, where Pikachu zoomed forward to Volt Tackle them.

Chikorita swatted the Cipher Peons away and quickly absorbed the Solar Lamps' light.

"Rhyperiors are coming!" yelled Hanna.

By now, Chikorita's leaf was the lightest green one could ever get. "All right!" she yelled. "Leave it to me! Solarbeam!"

A beam the shape of Chikorita's leaf zoomed out of it. It was of pure sunlight, and blasted all the Rhyperiors with tremendous force. They were all knocked out in one hit.

Hanna pulled out two Pokeballs and sent out a Shiny Gallade (Shiny Gallades have blue instead of dark green, orange spikes on his chest and back rather than red, and a gray spike on his head instead of a teal one.) and...a strange cross between an Espeon and a bird. The Pokemon was shaped like Espeon, but had small wings for ear. It had wings on its back, and a somewhat long tail with medium sized feathers all over it. It had blue fur, and its eyes and gem were colored a dark crystal blue rather than lavender. The fur on the back of its legs was a little bit long. Strangely, it had an arrow-shaped birthmark going from its forehead all the way to the back of its tail.

"All right, Aero, Gallade, go get...that guy!" Hanna pointed.

"Right!" Aero flashed bright blue, then zoomed towards the Cipher Peon with Sky Attack.

**BA-COON!**

"WAAAAAAAHHHH!" The Cipher Peon was sent flying. To the moon. And beyond. (What a blast!)

P.S. That was from Pokemon Diamond-Pearl Adventure. XD.

"At once, my lady." Gallade dashed off.

"Kind of stiff, isn't he?" wondered Chikorita, blasting another Solarbeam at a Whiscash.

Gallade landed and slashed at the Cipher Peon's Mismagius with Night Slash.

And then...

"UNNNNGGGGHHHH!" Gallade was knocked flat from behind by an Aggron's Iron Head attack. The Aggron then Tackled him and landed on top of him.

"GET...OFF...OF...ME!" Gallade said through gritted teeth. He then lifted Aggron over his head with a single hand, then brought up his other hand and sent Aggron flying into space with Seismic Toss.

Aggron went to the moon, and fell back down to earth. Actually, down to a Cipher Peon's Wailord.

**BA-COON!**

"That will teach you," said Gallade. Suddenly, a Sceptile jumped up behind him and attacked with Leaf Blade.

"Ho-hum," Gallade said, and caught the blade. "Psycho Cut."

Before Sceptile could move, Gallade unleashed a fury of slashes on him, knocking him down.

Gallade sighed. "Ameteurs," he muttered.

_"What a touching phrase..."_

"Huh?" Gallade turned.

Just in time to see a Gardevoir with hearts in her eyes launching herself at him, arms outstretched.

_"THUNDER PUNCH!"_

**BA-COON! ZZZZZZTTT!**

Another Gardevoir slammed her aside with a sparking fist, sending her flying somewher else.

_"That's _my_ boyfriend,"_the second Gardevoir said, looking annoyed. _"So hands off, or else."_

"Um, yeah, thanks, Gardevoir," said Gallade.

Suddenly, a Cipher Peon's Gallade grabbed Gardevoir. "Hey, you're pretty cute-want to go on a date?"

And then Gallade returned the favor with a Shadow Ball, which sent the other Gallade flying.

_"Uh, thanks,"_said Gardevoir.

"No problem," said Gallade. "Just returning the favor."

* * *

A Cipher Peon's Muchlax suddenly smelled honey and ran (sort of) in that direction.

Guess who was headed in that direction as well.

Suicune arrived to see...Munchlax finishing up the honey on the tree.

"WHAAAAAAAT?" Suicune was _furious_that someone else ate all that honey. And so, he summoned up a HUGE wave, that washed away the Munchlax and...

* * *

There was something like a crashing sound in the distance.

Axel looked up. "Huh?" He smacked the Bastiodon who was trying to flatten him with his giant face aside and saw...a GIGANTIC wave!

"Oh, great," muttered Axel. He sheathed his Zanpaku-to and punched the Bastiodon towards the huge wave.

**BA-COON!** (I use that sound effect a lot in this chapter, huh?)

After sending Bastiodon into the waves, Axel made a run for it (while doing a bit of spatial screw-up so that the buildings would not get wiped out and the people wouldn't wake up half-drowned).

Aeron looked up as well. "WHAT THE-?" He grabbed Drapion by the claw and threw him away, and also ran for it.

"Hanna!" he yelled.

Hanna jumped down from the roof and also ran.

Guess what a certain Pokemon of Axel's was doing.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Pikachu was...surfing! (YES, OF COURSE HE HAS A SURFBOARD!)

We'll skip the chaos because it's not that interesting.

* * *

"So, Cipher ended up getting washed away..." Hanna yawned and then said. "We should probably get some sleep at this point."

"Good idea!" said Axel. He turned away. "But there's something else..."

"Huh?"

"I kind of wasn't expecting so many people to be in my house, so..."

"Oh, that's okay," said Hanna. "I'll just camp out."

"Yeah, that's fine. I'm going in," said Axel.

"Are you sure?" asked Hanna. "I was going to make some s'mores..."

"Oh yeah, good call!" said Axel. "Let's eat!"

* * *

_The next morning..._

_People, wake up!_Solana sent to Anabel and Aerin.

Anabel mumbled something and rolled over. Aerin followed her lead.

Solana sighed. She went over to Aerin's ear and said the first thing that came to her mind over and over and over: _"Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat..."_ (etc.)

Aerin's face went from sleeping peacefully to frowning in annoyance. She raised her hand and slammed Solana on the head.

_"Toy boat, toy _BOI-_" _Solana was cut short by Aerin's attack. She keeled over in pain.

Aerin rolled over again, muttering something about how Axel had strange alarm clocks.

Solana got up, her head screaming from the pain. She looked down and saw Espeon and Aero snuggled up next to each other.

Solana got a mischevious glint in her eyes and jumped out the window. She snatched a s'more and jumped back in. She placed the s'more between the two and stepped back.

Suddenly, there was a noise and Solana immediately shut the window. Immediately, Suicune smacked his face into the window.

_Bad Suicune!_Solana yelled through telepathy.

**ZZZZZZZZZZZZZTT!**

There was a zapping and a yelling on Axel's lawn.

"Pikachu, I told you not to use volts to wake me up!" Axel yelled, annoyed.

"So?" Pikachu grinned. "It's fun! And you didn't tell me that yesterday."

"I told you not to _ever_ use volts on me," Axel said, pissed off.

"Oh." Pikachu looked disappointed.

Meanwhile, Espeon smelled the s'more and started moving towards it, still half asleep. Aero did the exact same thing.

They kept going, and eventually they nibbled on the s'more. They kept nibbling, and nibbling...until their mouths met in the middle. At this point they were also trying to gobble up every scrap...which also meant that they were inserting their tongues into the other's mouth. Eww. (French kissing! XD)

Espeon and Aero's eyes suddenly jolted open, and, realizing the embarrassing scene they were putting up, they bolted away from each other, red-faced with embarrassment underneath their fur.

Chikorita looked at the sleeping Aeron and Hanna. _How should I embarrass them?_ she thought.

* * *

Random Bonus Story...XD

_Wild Haku appeared!_

_Go! Axel!_

_Axel called out Pikachu!_

(Pikachu uses Volt Tackle)

_Haku took 160 damage._

_Haku used Seele Schneider!_

(Haku draws his bow and fires a Seele Schneider)

_Axel took 150 damage. _

_Axel called out Chikorita!_

(Chikorita uses Solarbeam)

_Haku took 160 damage._

_Haku used Arrow Barrage!_

(Haku draws bow and fires out multiple black and white arrows)

_Axel took 1 damage._

_Axel took 2 damage._

_Axel took 4 damage._

_A critical hit!_

_Axel took 16 damage._

_Axel took 16 damage._

_Axel took 39 damage overall._

_Axel used Mah Lazuh! (My laser)_

(Axel's eyes glow and a silver blast of light comes down from above, blowing Haku up)

_It's an Epic Win!_

_Haku took over 9000 damage._

_Haku fainted!_

_Axel won Epicly!_

_Axel gained 20000 exp._

_Axel grew to level 2!_

_+10 attack, +10 defense, +20 speed, +15 HP, -200 sanity_

_Axel obtained Electrode!_

O_o

_"WHAT THE H-"_

_Electrode used Explosion!_

**BOOOOOOMMMM!**

An explosion appeared on the screen.

"Heh heh. This game never gets old," some random guy said.

"Eddie."

"Crap!" Eddie yelled, turning around.

"So Aeron and Hanna didn't give you enough punishment, eh?" asked Axel, walking over to Eddie's side. "I guess I'll have to punish you with MAH LAZUH!"

**ZZZZZZZT!**

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!"

_It's an Epic Win!_

_Axel Nightblazer (author): Expect to see Eddie in my fanfic...not very soon, because I'm not entirely sure what to do now with my Fanfic._


	17. A short moment of randumbness

**OMG IT'S A NEW CHAPTER WHAT THE H-**

**Well, I'm sorry my production in Taiwan was kind of slow. But I'll try not to disappoint you this time!**

**P.S. Do not expect the Random Bonus Story to show up all the time. If you liked it, I'm sorry. I'll definitely do one for around Christmas time, though. So as long as I have enough creative juice in my brain, keep on the lookout for more funny randumbness-er, randomness!**

* * *

Toshiro looked around. "We HAVE to find a way into wherever that tunnel went!"

Chad morphed his right arm and chucked the rocks away to find that the entrance was demolished.

"Well, this way isn't an option," Izuru said.

Chad drew his hand back. At the same time, his left arm morphed into a more powerful form. It was white and magenta, with a spike on his shoulder. "Brazo Izquierda del Diablo (Left arm of the Devil)," he said.

His right arm's shield began to generate energy from the part that faced backward. "El Directo (The Direct, which sounds kind of lame, if you ask me)!" he shouted.

The fingers on his left arm began to spark. He drew that hand back as well. "La Muerte! (The Death. Ooh, creepy.)" he shouted.

With both hands, he smashed the door open.

**BA-COON!** (I really have to stop using that sound effect, don't I?)

The door was busted down. Chad walked in calmly.

* * *

Little did they know...that they were being watched!

...

...

...

...by a Sunkern...

Wait, what the heck?

...

...

...

...

...

...when will I stop writing "..."?

* * *

Uryu looked around. "What is this place?" he wondered.

RANDOM ENCOUNTER!

"Wait, wha-"

A Snorlax suddenly rolled over and flattened them all. It then rolled off of them.

"That hurt," Kon said.

* * *

**Did I disappoint you? I'm sorry. I just felt like putting in a moment of pure randumbness in my story. The action will come next chapter.**

**Please read my other chapters and review. Or get ready to feel the wrath of Suicune and Kyogre.**

**Just kidding. XD**


	18. Cipher crashes a party, er, festival

Sorry about last chapter. I just couldn't resist…XD

**Well, it's time to...DU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DUEL-nah, just kidding (this is Pokemon, not Yu-gi-oh). It's time to...introduce some new characters! =D**

**Enjoy! And please review, or Aeron will humiliate me during Christmas.**

* * *

"Smile!"

FLASH!

Kotone smiled at the camera. "How did the picture look?" she asked.

"Not so great," the person who took the photo said. "You look nice, but Silver..."

Kotone's mouth dropped open. "Silver, why on earth were you hiding behind me? You're not afraid of the camera, are you?"

"I don't like having my picture taken!" Silver complained.

Kotone sighed. "You need to be more open, you know? Do you even remember where we are?"

"Yeah, I know that we needed to help run the Johto Festival since your sister was sick, but THAT DOESN'T MEAN I NEED MY PICTURE TAKEN!" Silver raged.

"What's wrong with having your picture taken?" Kotone asked him.

"...bad habit picked up from my father?" Silver asked.

"What does _that _have to do with anything?" wondered Kotone.

"DO YOU EVEN HAVE ANY IDEA WHO HE IS?" yelled Silver.

"...no." Kotone said. "Ask Ethan. _He _was the one who (accidentally) went back in time with Celebi and ended up battling the boss of Team Rocket. Who knows what else he saw."

"EXACTLY THAT PERSON! MY DAD WAS THE BOSS OF TEAM ROCKET!" yelled Silver.

"You know, you're attracting a lot of attention by yelling..." Kotone noted.

Silver turned and saw a huge, open-mouthed crowd behind him. "Um..."

"See?" Kotone sighed. "Oh, the irony."

"That's it! I'm blowing this popsicle stand!" Silver said.

"..." Kotone looked at the popsicle stand behind him and sweated.

Silver suddenly got surrounded in fire, and emerged from it as a firey humanoid with flames emanating from his wrists. He had a "crown" on his head shaped to look like the rays of sun from a sunrise: a vertical spike jutted somewhat backwards, and four others also angled backwards, but were slanted more horizontal as they got closer to the bottom. A mask covered his mouth and nose; only his eyes were visible. Instead of hair, he had flames on the back of his head, like an Infernape. Well, not _really_like an Infernape...anyway, he had a chest plate with an eight-rayed sun on it, and a cape with the sun on it, and the kanji for fire in the circle. Embers drifted off of it, as if it was fire. (which it kind of was...) Anyway, he had red gems set in the backs of his hands, and the gauntlet itself had a comet-like marking on it; nine streaks drifted backwards off the gem, the ones more to the sides shorter and slightly more facing backwards, while the ones more towards the center were longer and more backwards. He had legs somewhat like Wargreymon's, but with smaller feet, and his entire legs were encased in armor. Actually, he had Wargreymon's entire lower half. He looked pretty awesome, but this description might give you ideas as to otherwise.

"It's the Human Torch!" a bunch of people yelled.

"YOU IDIOT!" Kotone yelled at him.

Suddenly, a lot of petals began to surround them. It was like a STORM of them. And when they cleared, Silver and Kotone weren't there.

* * *

"Owowowow!" Silver yelled. "Do you have to drag me by the collar of my shirt?"

"Yes, because you're such a big idiot!" Kotone raged at him (although considerately more softly). She held up a Pokedex...that looked somewhat like a D-Tector. (Sound familiar?) "Just because we can do that doesn't mean you have to be such a show-off of your abilities. People will think you're a freak, you know!" She looked at a Meganium. "Nice Petal Dance, Meganium."

"I WASN'T going to stay there, I was just about to fly off and get out of there, but you interrupted!" Silver said.

"So? This would've been on the news!" Kotone raged.

"So? They weren't videotaping it!" Silver protested.

"So? They can still talk about it!"Kotone pointed out.

"So? Who's ever heard about this sort of thing and actually believes it?" Silver retorted.

"..." Kotonie sighed since she had no comeback.

"See? End of discussion."

* * *

Cipher Peons were a good ten meters away from the festival, trying to decide their next move.

"With Heatran, we can easily clear our way through this festival if anyone tries to stop us!" said a Cipher Peon. "We should get through to the Shadow Pokemon Factory so that we can make this Heatran a Shadow Pokemon! Then we will be unstoppable!"

"And if they have a Ground Pokemon on hand?" asked another. "We should be careful, shouldn't we?"

"Well, then, we knit a HUGE blanket and-"

"Dude, did you get that from Youtube's Jokester94n's video 'The Postman Returneth Again'?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"It's STUPID and unoriginal. And that's also copyrighted."

"BUT THIS IS A FLIPPING FANFICTION!"

AWOOOOO-GAH! AWOOOOO-GAH! AWOOOOO-GAH!

"Huh? What's that?" that same Cipher Peon asked.

"Oh, nice job, Bob," his companion said.

"WHAT THE H-(censored) DID I DO?"

* * *

**ONBS Special Broadcast:**

**_We interrupt this Fanfic for an important announcement:_**

**_Cipher Peon Bob Marley (of no relation to the rockstar) was just caught pulling off one of the worst crimes a character can commit in fanmade fiction, written story or otherwise:_**

_**A DREAM THRASHER ALERT.**_

_**We now bring you to fanfic writer Axel Nightblazer for further information.**_

**Axel Nightblazer: **Hello everyone who actually bothers to notice that this exists. A dream thrasher is where a character in any type of fictional story breaks the fourth wall and tells everybody that the setting they are in is fake and they are just characters in a book (more like website for me). First recorded under respected Youtuber MissOliverandBlossom (after one of his characters blew it big time by saying that despite being trains, they can talk and have feelings), this is a very serious insult to the fanfic or story or whatever. Anyway, if anyone spots a character who messes up and ends up sounding the alarm, call me by my hotline number.

1-800-Some-Fictional-Guy-Just-Broke-The-Fourth-Wall-And-Ruined-The-Entire-Story-And-I-Am-Calling-This-Number-To-Have-Him-Punished-For-Ruining-My-Fanfic-And-Making-Me-Have-To-Pay-For-Wall-Repair.

Then just bring him to me, and I'll take a Spartan Laser and shoot him in the face.

...

Actually, you can own him yourself. My Hotline number is too complicated. Besides, I don't even know how to do letters on a phone. (Yes, you can say at this point that I suck.)

_**We now return to our scheduled program.**_

* * *

A portal opened in thin air, and Arceus almighty emerged from it.

_Who dares to ruin the dreams and wishes of the readers? _Arceus boomed.

"Er...Bob did, sir," said a random Cipher Peon, pointing at the guilty Cipher Peon.

Arceus was silent. And then an orange sphere began to generate in front of his head.

"AW CRAP!" yelled Bob.

_You shall be brought to JUSTICE! _Arceus roared.

The Sphere zoomed into the sky and split into thousands of meteors zoomed towards the guy. But then suddenly all of them burned with white fire as they fell towards Bob.

**BOOOOM!**

_It's an Epic Win!_

Bob basically got owned. To say the _least_.

_All is forgiven, _Arceus said almost cheerfully. He went back into the portal and closed it.

There was a silence.

"Why didn't we try to catch him?" asked a Cipher Peon.

* * *

Kotone was taking a nap underneath a tree, using Silver's lap as a pillow (Silver did not support this decision).

Silver sighed. _I really don't like becoming a pillow...when will she wake up?_

There was a massive explosion at that point. =D...I MEAN! D8

Boom.

I MEAN!

**BOOOOOOMM!**

Silver looked up. "An explosion?" he wondered. He dashed off in that direction, letting Kotone fall on the ground. Hard.

Kotone frowned, mumbled, and rolled over.

Silver ran into the festival to see lots of lava...people running and screaming...and Cipher Peons standing next to a Heatran.

"Heatran..." Silver sighed and knew he was going to have a long day ahead of him.

"Go, Infernape and Magmortar!" shouted Silver, sending out his two powerful Fire-type Pokemon.

"Huh? Hey, someone has the guts to challenge us!" a Cipher Peon taunted.

"Infernape, Close Combat! Magmortar, Focus Blast!"

Magmortar focused his energies into a sphere and blasted Heatran with it, knocking Heatran back. Infernape rocketed behind and used Close Combat to deal a flurry of lightning-quick punches and kicks that sent Heatran flying. Actually, "Flurry" is an understatement.

"Urrgh!" the Cipher Peon growled. "Heatran, return! Go, Starmie!"

"You won't win even with Starmie!" Silver taunted. "Sunny Day!"

Magmortar made the sun's rays intensify.

"Now! Infernape! Use the Ultimate Fire-type move!" Silver ordered.

"What, Blast burn?"

Silver scoffed. "Blast Burn? No!"

"Wha-?"

Infernape put his ...erm, I don't know what to call them... together and generated a fireball. He stretched his, uh, _hands_ apart, and as he did, the flames on his head blazed even more and the fireball grew to incredible size. He crossed his arms...

"Now!" Silver ordered. "Solar Wind Destroyer!"

Infernape flung his arms out to the sides and let loose a savage war cry, sending the fireball rocketing towards Starmie, and the fireball exploded into immense firey winds that overwhelmed Starmie.

"Alright, you asked for it!" the Cipher Peon yelled. "Go, Electivire, Dusknoir!"

Silver's eyes narrowed. "Infernape, Blaze Kick! Magmortar, Fire Blast!"

Infernape launched himself at Electivire and kicked him in the face with flames blazing around his leg. Magmortar's fingerns retracted into his "cannon" and he pointed it at Dusknoir, blasting a firey five pointed cross-shaped blast at Dusknoir. Both Pokemon didn't seem like they were at the end of their rope, though.

"This is the best you can do?" taunted the Cipher Peon. "Electivire, Thunder Punch! Dusknoir, Ominous Wind!"

Electivire punched at Infernape with sparks flying around his fist, knocking Infernape a ways back. Dusknoir summoned ominous, purple-black winds (no matter what they sound like, they AREN'T shadow) and blasted them forward to rip at Magmortar, causing him to both cry out in pain and flinch. More purplish-black winds swirled around Dusknoir, and he seemed faster and stronger than ever.

"Now, Dusknoir, Shadow Punch (the Ghost type move)! Electivire, Thunder!" the Cipher Peon yelled.

Shadows swirled around Dusknori's fist, and he slammed Infernape in the face with it, causing an explosion of shadows. Electivire's tails (or whatever you can call them) blasted electricity into the sky and blasted it down on Magmortar.

Silver's eyes narrowed. "Do you really want me to get serious?"

"Whatever!" the Cipher Peon yelled. "It doesn't matter how strong you and your Pokemon are, you'll never beat us!"

"Fine." Silver pulled out a red-orange armor plate and his special Pokedex (let's just simply call it the Pokedex Ultra). "I really didn't want to do this..." He converted the plate into flame-orange energy. "But you asked for my strongest, and you'll get it! Come on, Pyrelios!"

Silver ran the orange energy into the Pokedex Ultra, and then the Pokedex showed an image of a Pokemon and zoomed in on the armor. Silver pulled the Pokedex back and held out his hand, and an orange ball appeared in his hand. Silver pulled his hands back and then brought them and the Pokedex Ultra and the energy together.

"Come forth, my friend!" he yelled. (Isn't it strange? Silver saying "friend?" Well, he has a Crobat in the games, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised.) "Fire Elemental Ressurection!"

Silver pulled the Pokedex Ultra and the ball of energy away from each other. Enormous amounts of flame poured forth, engulfing the teenager in their fiery depths.

The flames danced back and forth, then twirled into a tornado-like twister, then whirled away, revealing the form Silver had taken from earlier. (Too lazy to redo the description, so go back and read it. I know, shame on me...XD)

"RRRAAAHHHHH!" Silver roared, flying down. He slammed down in an enormous explosion of fire and lava, and released tons of fire from his wrists before discharging it into the ground in the form of twin fireballs, blowing up the area they struck. "Volcano Fury Pyrelios!" he declared.

"WHAT THE HECK?" the Cipher Peons yelled. "THAT THING ISN'T IN _ANY _POKEDEX! NOT EVEN IN ISSHU'S! (Don't even ask what Isshu is. Believe me, you DON'T want to know. At all. EVER.)"

Pyrelios's hands were placed together. The Cipher Peons saw a fireball generating between them. It was tiny now, but it was growing..._Oh this is just crap, _they thought.

Pyrelios began with a low battle cry, then it increased in volume and savageness, then it became a full-throated roar of the untamed as the sphere expanded to a diameter of 10 feet above his head. Flickering flames jetted out of it, and arcs of fire jumped out and landed back in. The sphere was so bright that everything was bathed in a painful white light, forcing everybody to cover their eyes.

"_Helio Destroyer!_" Pyrelios roared, and rose high above the battlefield. He let go of the sphere with one hand and, grunting with exertion, he hurled it down to the battlefield. (Were you expecting Solar Wind Destroyer? I'm sorry.)

The sphere hit earth.

**KAAA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!**

_It's an Epic Win!_

The sphere exploded with a massive surge of heat, fire, and life. Everything within 20 feet was scorched beyond recognition, which made it lucky that they were in a clear zone, so nothing in the town got hurt. The two Cipher Peons, who, before the blast, had brightly colored armor, as shiny as your new car when you get first get it, had been charred, scorched, and basically looked like a marshmallow that had gone through H E double toothpicks' points of interest (er, pain and suffering) and back. And was still intact (sort of). Ouch.

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH! HOTHOTHOTHOTHOT!" the Cipher Peons yelled.

Pyrelios looked down at them. And the huge amount of destruction that he created. _Maybe I went a bit overboard..._ he thought.

"Alright, go, Swampert, Quagsire, Golem, Rhyperior, Aggron, Bastiodon!" One of the Cipher Peons sent out all his Pokemon.

The Cipher Peon who had Heatran sent him out at that point.

Pyrelios growled. This was a very bad situation...

* * *

Kotone's face crumpled into a frown. It was just too hot for her...

_Wait, hot? Oh no._

Kotone opened her eyes and got up, looking at the festival. There was an immense fire there. Think of fitting the entire sun's heat into a single spot. Yeah. That bad.

_OH NO._

She saw Pyrelios fighting an Aggron and a Swampert in the midst of the blaze.

_OH DEAR GOD NO!_

"He went and did it again..." Kotone groaned, anime style crying.

Then she saw a Quagsire and the Swampert from earlier trying to dowse the flames. The other Pokemon-a Rhyperior, a Golem, a Bastiodon,and that Aggron from before- stomped them out. Then they turned their full attension to Pyrelios.

Kotone sighed and reached for her Pokedex and a wooden shield. "I can't believe this...but he got himself into that mess, and I guess I'll have to get him out of it! Let's go, Arboreon!"

The Pokedex showed a fearsome Pokemon and then zoomed in on a part of that Pokemon. With the shield transformed into energy and transferred to the Pokedex, Kotone pulled it back and whirled around, bringing her other hand up. A green sphere flared to life in it. She spread her arms out and then thrust the sphere and the Pokedex together.

"Come forth, my friend!" she shouted. "Grass Elemental Resurrection!"

Pulling the Dex away from the sphere, she unleashed a storm of petals around her blown about by the wind. Her form glowed green and became surrounded by petals and leaves, sucked around her by a whirling vortex of energy. Then the vortex dissolved from the right hand onward, revealing a young lady with rose-red hair. Her eyes were grass green, and an armor plate resembling three leaves placed together rested on her forehead, doubling almost like a tiara. Long leaves extended from her wrists, and she was wearing a leaf skirt, composed of around 8 large leaves hanging from her waist. Yes, they went down to just above her knees. And no, for those perverts out there wondering, you couldn't have gotten a look at her...undergarments, because she was also in a sort of full armor. It was a steely substance, but colored exactly like leaves. Her torso was encased in a scale-armor of leaves, her shins were guarded by steely plates with leaf-like kneecaps. She held a glossy shield on her left arm, with the emblem of a rose on it, and wielded not a sword but a wooden staff in her right hand. She looked distinctly human, but make no mistake, for looking like a human is far from being one.

She jumped down, shouting as she whirled her staff. She lightly on the ground and slammed her staff into the ground, whirling about a storm of leaves. She held up her shield, and an Energy Ball charged in front of it and blasted forth, exploding somewhere. "Arboreon Magna!"

"HUH?" The Cipher Peons whirled when they saw the new figure in the sky.

Pyrelios turned. "'Bout time you woke uOOOOOFFF!"

Arboreon had slapped him. "YOU IDIOT!" she screamed in his face, as two halves of a mask only enough to cover her mouth formed and slid together, covering her mouth and nose. Her tiara-like armor piece slid down from her forehead and the very bottom met the very tip of the mask. "WHY ARE YOU SO RECKLESS?"

"WHY DO YOU ALWAYS YELL AT ME?"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT!"

"HOW?"

"BECAUSE!"

"BECAUSE WHAT?"

"BECAUSE BECAUSE!"

"BECAUSE BECAUSE WHAT?"

"BECAUSE BECAUSE BECAUSE!"

"Look, can you stop saying 'Because?'" Pyrelios asked.

"NO!"

"WHY?"

"BECAUSE!"

"BECAUSE WHAT?"

"BECAUSE BECAUSE!"

"BECAUSE BECAUSE WHAT?"

"BECAUSE BECAUSE BECAUSE!"

This argument went on for a while.

* * *

_One random argument later..._

They were still yelling at each other! XD

"Swampert! Hydro Pump!" shouted a Cipher Peon.

Arboreon noticed and immediately held her hand to the sky. Suddenly, the sunlight turned strong. REALLY strong.

"WHAT THE-?" yelled a Cipher Peon.

Arboreon's hair was changing...there were roses blooming in it! Her leaf-skirt changed into a rose-petal skirt, and what seemed to be lilies formed at her wrists, as if they were merely the cuffs of her "sleeves". Just over here right ear, as if tucked there, a flower exactly like a Gracidea in full bloom blossomed in addition to her roses.

"Hmm-hmm-hmmmmm," she hummed almost cheerfully. "I feel rather happy today."

The Hydro Pump rocketed towards the two, but most of its content was rapidly evaporating in the sunlight. And that's when the Cipher Peons noticed light gathering around Arboreon's hands.

Arboreon whirled and then thrust her hands out. Immediately, all the flowers on her body bloomed in the sun. And then the next thing Swampert and Quagsire knew, an intense beam of light had blasted both of them.

Ironically, after that, they could only see black.

* * *

"Argh!" a Cipher Peon yelled. "All right, go, Castform! Rain Dance!"

Immediately, rain poured down on them.

"Ha!" yelled the Cipher Peon. "You can't use Solarbeam now!"

"Maybe not, but..."

Suddenly, Arboreon summoned water and sent a whirling torrent of it at Aggron and Bastiodon, soaking them into unconsiousness.

"What in-"

The Cipher Peons could see Arboreon in front of them, but she had changed again. Most of the flowers on her body had changed into water lilies, and her hair had lengthened considerably, like a weeping willow's (although this comparison only refers to length, nothing else. Her hair is still green and perfectly combed, mind you.).

"Surprised?" Arboreon asked. "My form changes with the weather, so given that you've made it rain, I now have the powers of water."

"Arrgh! Rhyperior, Rock Wrecker!"

Rhyperior raised his hands, and rocks poured out of them into a ball outlined with red. He sent the rock hurtling at Arboreon and Pyrelios.

Pyrelios blasted it with a single Fire Blast, and it shattered apart.

"WHAT?" yelled the Cipher Peon.

Arboreon sent another swirling torrent of water, which quickly took care of Golem and Rhyperior.

"Uh, Castform...Hail!" said the Cipher Peon.

For a third time, Arboreon transformed. This time, her form had reverted to its original look, except a forest green now, with white highlights. What appeared to be snow was on her arms, and the tip of her staff was elaborately decorated with what appeared to be something similar to pine tree branches. (Wouldn't it be just perfect if there was also a red ribbon in it? XD)

She hadn't even moved before Pyrelios spoke.

"I'm getting sick of this. I'm going to end it right now."

At this point, there was a glowing light from Pyrelios...which turned out to be another Solar Wind Destroyer.

"OH CRAP!" yelled the Cipher Peons.

"SOLAR WIND DESTROYER!" shouted Pyrelios.

"YOU IDIOT!" shouted Arboreon as the fiery winds erupted.

* * *

_One super destructive Fire ball and several hundred Ice Beams later..._

"Screw this, we're out of here!" The Cipher Peons quickly slid away through the town, which Arboreon had to entirely freeze over to prevent the flames from getting out of control. "At least we still have Heatran-"

"Do you?"

A vine suddenly whipped Heatran's Pokeball away from them.

"Wha-"

Several Ice Beams blasted the spots the Cipher Peons were on, freezing them in place.

"Well, that went pretty well," said Pyrelios. The two reverted back to their human forms.

It was then that they remembered they had been in the air the whole time.

"OH SH-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Silver yelled as they fell down.

Kotone landed in a snowdrift. She came out shivering. "Brrrr..." she said.

Silver wasn't so lucky. Guess where he was headed?

Answer: Towards a spike of ice that jutted out from where a raging fire had roared.

"AAAAHHH-OW!" Silver yelled as he hit the spike...and he had landed so that it was...where his legs met. "My god...ow..." He fainted.

"OH MY GOD, SILVER!" Kotone yelled.

* * *

_After thawing out the town and getting Silver out of his...predicament..._

"Well, that absolutely sucked..." Silver said. "And now we know that after seven years, Cipher has come back. And they've hit the ground running. But the worst part is we can't do anything about it!"

"Yes we can!" Kotone said, smiling.

"What?" Silver yelled. "But you said that-"

"Lyra called from New Bark Town. She said that she's feeling better and will come soon. So we're free to go do whatever!"

"Awesome!" Silver grinned. "Let's head to Eterna. Axel lives there, and he'll know what to do!"

"Right! Let's go!" Kotone yelled.

"Yeah! Let's go...like THIS!" Silver suddenly turned into Pyrelios, grabbed Kotone, and sprang up into the air. "SOLAR FLARE!" He zoomed across the sky like a rocket, trailing fire.

"YOU IDIOT!" Kotone screamed at him.

* * *

**Random Bonus Story...XD**

**Time: Sometime during Rise of the Forbidden (see Aeron Solo's page)**

Axel and Co. were playing a game of Truth or Dare. Axel didn't look very comfortable cause there was a Latias behind him. Why? ...Who knows.

"Alright, Aeron, it's your turn now!" said Salvo (a guy who will be appearing later in my Fanfic). "Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," said Aeron, knowing what would come if he did Truth.

"I dare you to kiss Hanna!"

Hanna's face turned tomato-red, and Aeron fell back in his chair.

"FFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

* * *

_One embarrasing kiss later..._

"Alright, Eddie!" said Salvo. "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth!" said Eddie.

"Will you ever make good video games?" asked Salvo.

"I already am!" said Eddie.

"..."

There was a round of exchanging looks and glaring at Eddie.

_Liar._thought Aeron.

_Liar!_ thought Hanna.

_Liar..._ thought Axel.

"Alright, Axel, it's your turn now!" said Salvo.

Aeron held up his hand. "If I may, Salvo, may I ask Axel the truth/dare thing?"

Axel's eyes bugged out of his head. _My sixth sense tells me..._

"Sure, okay!" said Salvo.

Axel gulped.

"Axel, Truth or-" began Aeron.

"No," said Axel.

"Huh?"

"No!"

"What?"

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Maybe!"

"_What?_"

"NO!"

"Aww..." Aeron looked disappointed at not getting the chance to humiliate Axel.

"Axel, you _can't _refuse," Hanna said.

Axel looked shocked.

This was the only sound that could be heard within a five mile radius for a while.

"FFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

**Thanks for reading! (Hard to believe this took me over a month to write.)**

**Please put up reviews for this chapter or I will hit you.**

**(Yes, OF COURSE I cut off Axel's line on purpose.)**


	19. Pikachu does a FALCON PUNCH

**I can NOT believe how long it took me to make chapter 24. Oh well. Just sit back, relax, and read Chapter 25! XD.**

**Remember to put up reviews, or I will hit you.**

* * *

"Lalalalala- I'm a good singer-" Pikachu sang. As if on cue, a window broke.

"SHUT UP! I'M TRYING TO CONCENTRATE!" Ben screamed at him.

"Um, yeah, trying to concentrate on getting owned, huh?" Axel asked.

"SHUT UP! I'LL BEAT YOU AT HALO 3 THIS TIME!" shouted Ben.

The game loaded.

"Give me a break, Ben," said Sam, who was playing Pokemon Diamond version. "You've been getting owned for the entire morning."

"SHUT UP! I'LL WIN THIS TIME! See? I got a Spartan Laser!" shouted Ben.

**ZOW!**

_Teh Nightblazer sniped you._

Ben was silent. And then he finally said:

"WHAT

THE

CRAP."

Axel laughed evilly.

* * *

_Several disappointing losses later…_

Wins: Axel-100,000,000,000,000, Ben-0

"GIVE ME A BREAK!" Ben yelled in frustration.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom," Axel said.

"WHAT? COME ON! I NEED TO OWN YOU!"

"Hey, let's play Super Smash Bros Brawl!" Sam suddenly said.

"Oh, yeah! Awesome! I'm great at Brawl!" shouted Ben.

Axel went to the bathroom. "Heh heh. Owning Ben is fun."

"I HEARD THAT! Well, I didn't hear what you said, but…I HEARD YOU TALKING!"

"Whatever." Axel went into the bathroom.

* * *

_A medium sized amount of time later…_

"FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

Sam hit Ben before he could finish. "Geez, Ben, you don't have to swear because Aeron keeps schooling you."

Aeron looked at him, amused. "You got schooled, too."

"Shaddap," Sam said.

"Hey! I'm going to join in too!" said Axel.

* * *

_One Brawl later…_

Ben was being depressed, because he was in 4th place.

Sam was very annoyed because he was in 3rd.

"THERE! YOU DIED!" yelled Axel.

"Aw, that means I come in second," said Aeron.

"W00T! I won!" Axel shouted. "As celebration, I demand ice cream!"

It was then that everything outside went black.

"Huh? Is that my ice cream?" Axel asked.

"Maybe it's a Solar Eclipse," said Anabel. She looked outside…and saw a whole ton of Golbat. "Uhhhh…never mind."

Ben looked out and saw what was going on. "Oh no."

Sam came to the window and looked down to see LOTS of guys…who were from TEAM GALACTIC! "OH NO."

Axel looked up, and then…

A voice said: "Heh heh…it's been a while."

"OH DEARGOD NO!" Axel yelled.

"What's so 'Oh Dear God No'?" asked Hanna.

"THAT GUY! HE'S…SATURN OF TEAM GALACTIC!" yelled Ben.

"NOOOO! I HAVEN'T RECOVERED FROM HOW ANNOYING HE IS!" yelled Sam.

"YEAH! I HAVEN'T EITHER! WE REFUSE TO BATTLE YOU!" yelled Ben.

"Oh you'll come out and fight…all three of you. Or else I'll just have my men blast your house until it's nothing left but some puddles of acid and a couple timbers lying around!" shouted Saturn.

Ben and Sam looked at each other. "Dang…" Ben said.

* * *

_And so…_

_Galactic Commander__ Saturn would like to battle!_

Saturn lifted three Pokéballs. "Go! Gallade! Rhyperior! Toxicroak!"

"Rhyperior, huh?" asked Sam. "Well, then, go, Empoleon!"

"Come on, Infernape!" shouted Ben.

"Let's do this, Chikorita!" said Axel.

*insert record scratch here*

"…"

Immediately, everyone except Axel, Aeron, Hanna, and Anabel began cracking up.

A vein throbbed on Axel's forehead. "Chikorita…FRENZY PLANT!"

Almost immediately, Rhyperior and Toxicroak were attacked from the ground by a whirling mass of green and roots. The two screamed in pain. Unfortunately, Gallade dashed away just in time.

Everyone was still laughing…but now it had turned to nervous laughs.

Sam immediately took this opportuninty to attack. "Empoleon! Hydro Pump Gallade!"

Empoleon summoned water and blasted it at Gallade, but Gallade jumped out of the way.

Empoleon unleashed Hydro Pump after Hydro Pump, but each one was avoided by Gallade. Empoleon was getting frustrated.

Gallade immediately dashed towards Empoleon, dodging more attacks from his target.

"Now, Gallade!" shouted Saturn. "Psycho Cut!"

Gallade drew his blades back, and then they began radiating light blue. He swung them at Empoleon and slugged him hard.

Too bad for Gallade, he slugged Empoleon so hard that his fists were stuck in Empoleon.

Infernape watched as Empoleon and Gallade struggled to get away from each other. _"Uhh…."_

"CONCENTRATE ON FIGHTING!" Chikorita yelled at him, blasting him in the back of the head with Energy Ball.

"_OWWW!" _shouted Infernape. "Why'd you have to do that?"

Toxicroak ripped free of the roots and immediately dove at the two.

Infernape immediately whirled and his fist blazed. "_FIRE PUNCH!"_ he hollered and slugged Toxicroak, sending him flying.

Toxicroak sailed through the air, but Infernape was relentless. He jumped at Toxicroak and began flailing his arms and legs at Toxicroak with Close Combat, slamming Toxicroak several times before using a Sky Uppercut and sending Toxicroak flying.

Toxicroak was now falling, and Infernape was too…that is, flying with a flaming leg. He slammed Toxicroak downwards with Blaze Kick, and then flipped down to ground before Toxicroak could and sprang off again.

Infernape drew his fist back, and then it blazed once again. _"FIRE PUNCH!"_ he shouted, slugging Toxicroak away.

Toxicroak still hadn't touched the ground before Infernape crossed his arms and then flung them out again, sending a HUGE ball of fire at Toxicroak (Blast Burn).

**KA-BOOOM!**

Infernape landed with one hand on the ground, one hand raised in an awesome pose. Toxicroak landed behind him, unconscious.

Infernape immediately began beating his chest, shouting over and over and over: _"I'M THE GREATEST!"_

Back to Empoleon now.

Empoleon was still struggling to get Gallade's fists out of his face. _"GET YOUR FISTS OUT OF MY FACE!" _he shouted.

"_GET YOUR FACE OFF MY FISTS!" _Gallade yelled in response.

"Leaf Blade!" Chikorita shouted, coming down with her leaf glowing bright grean. She sliced Gallade's fists off of Empoleon's face with an expertise attack.

Gallade next saw Empoleon summoning a huge amount of water. A HUGE AMOUNT of water.

"Now, Empoleon!" shouted Sam. "Hydro Cannon!"

Empoleon shot the biggest jet of water you could EVER see in your life, slamming Gallade into a wall and drenching him.

"Urrgh…Gallade, Toxicroak, return!" shouted Saturn. "Go, Magmortar, Crobat!"

"_More guys to wreck!" _said Empoleon.

"_We can take them!" _said Infernape confidentally.

Chikorita's leaf began to glow very brightly. She began to absorb light…

"_OH CRAP!"_ shouted Rhyperior. He immediately tore free of the vines and began shooting rocks at Chikorita. Infernape smashed them aside easily.

"Chikorita…SOLARBEAM!" shouted Axel.

Chikorita fired a light green blast of light, slamming into Rhyperior and scorching him badly, knocking him out.

"Rhyperior, return!" said Saturn. He was frustrated now. "Go, Bronzong!"

"I think Chikorita shouldn't be used now…" Axel raised his Pokéball.

"Darn…" Chikorita said as she went back into the Pokéball.

"Okay, Pikachu, let's go!"yelled Axel.

"W00T!" Pikachu said. "Time for me to get some action!"

"Ha!" laughed Saturn. "You think you can stand up against Magmortar?"

Magmortar immediately began using Fire Blast on Pikachu.

"WAAHH!" Pikachu yelled, running from Magmortar.

"_Come back, Coward!"_ Magmortar shouted, running at Pikachu with Fire Blast still going.

Infernape sighed and shook his head. _"_What_ is he doing?"_ he wondered.

A Sludge Bomb suddenly hit him on the back of the head.

Let's spare Crobat the humiliation and not give any details of what Infernape did.

Magmortar was forced to stop Fire Blast to "reload" and then he could start again.

Pikachu suddenly jumped into the cannon.

"_Huh?"_ yelled Magmortar. _"Get out! Get out!" _He began shaking the cannon. And then he pointed it skywards. _"FIRE BLAST!"_

Pikachu shot into the air like a flaming rocket. Actually, with Fire Blast, he technically WAS.

Bronzong watched him fly up. _What a moron,_ he thought.

Magmortar looked into his cannon to make sure the explosion hadn't damaged it.

What he DIDN'T see was Empoleon preparing a Hydro Cannon.

**SPLASH!**

"_AAAGGHH!"_ yelled Magmortar. HE fell to the ground, unconscious.

"_Muahahahaha," _laughed Empoleon.

Bronzong suddenly attacked Empoleon with Heavy Bomber (Generation V move and I know very little about its looks). Due to an immense weight difference, Empoleon was hurt badly by it.

Bronzong laughed, but then he noticed something coming down from the sky. _Huh?_

*insert Mute City from F-Zero here*

There was Pikachu, streaking down from the sky with the flames still going. HE was coming FAST.

"_Ah-what-? D-Don't come closer!"_ yelled Bronzong. Too bad for him, Pikachu couldn't hear him.

Pikachu drew back his fist, and Fire, Lightning, and Ice swirled around it. He was getting closer now…

Bronzong braced himself for impact with Reflect (barrier of blue plates of light).

"FALCON PUNCH!" Pikachu shouted, slamming the power of Brick Break, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch and Ice Punch into Bronzong, shattering right through the Reflect with the Brick Break part.

"_OOFFF!"_ Bronzong fell, unconscious.

Saturn stared. ALL of his Pokémon had been owned. "Thi-This is impossible.."

Sam's Lucario suddenly grabbed Saturn from behind and then blasted him away with an Aura enhanced Force Palm, sending Saturn flying over the horizon. The Galactic Grunts grabbed Saturn's Pokémon and ran after him.

"Well, that was fairly easy," said Axel. "So, what do we do now?"

"I have an idea," said Sam.

"Sure, what is it?" Axel asked.

**TECHNO**

**DANCE**

**PARTY!**

Everyone began dancing to Caramelldansen. (I can't really describe it, so if you want to hear how stupid but hilarious the song is, just go to Youtube and type in The Most Unusual Caramelldansen Video Ever and watch really hilarious stuff, although it will not be the techno dance party).

"Wtf," said Empoleon.

* * *

**Random Bonus Story…XD**

Time: _**LONG**_ before Rise of the Forbidden

"Hey, guys, I've decided to throw a party," said Eddie.

"Cool!" everyone yelled.

"And I'm gonna have Aeron sing Caramelldansen!"

*insert record scratch here*

"WHAT?" yelled Axel.

"Whoever wants Aeron to sing Caramelldansen, raise your hand."

Everyone raised their hand except Axel.

"I'm not going to be part of this," said Axel.

"Okay," said Eddie. "Fire the cannon!"

"Wait, wha-?"

**BOOOMMM!**

_

* * *

_

At the party…

"Okay, looks like everyone's here!" said Eddie.

"Now what?" asked Aeron.

Eddie suddenly thrust a Microphone into Aeron's hands.

"WHAT THE HECK?" yelled Aeron.

Caramelldansen began playing.

"HEY! WHEN DID I AGREE TO DO THIS?" yelled Aeron.

"Just go along with it," said Eddie.

Aeron began to sing, glaring at Eddiie all the time.

**Yeah. See how much of a jerk Eddie can be?**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Oh yeah, and put up a review about Pikachu's FALCON PUNCH or the Techno Dance Party or I will hit you.**

**And if you can contact Youtuber Tomato3456, tell him to be grateful for me advertising for him. And that he is awesome.**


	20. Let's send Paul to the Hospital! XD

**I SAY HI! =D**

**Okay, I put that down for "Randumbness" and didn't mean to plagiarize Arceus-MASTER's page, so tell him I offer my apologies and chocolate chip cookies if he takes offense**

**Okay, Chapter 26 is all here ready for you to read. Have fun, and review now!**

**NOW! **

**(Credit goes to Strike-Minna for a couple ideas for this chapter.)**

* * *

"AAAGGGH!" Paul yelled. " COME ON! QUIT DRAGGING ME!"

"Come on!" Ash said. "Give me a break! We're going to the Coliseum! THE COLISEUM! Am I the only one who's getting excited about this?"

"YES!" Paul shouted, tearing away. "Cipher is back and all you care about is some tournament in some new building!"

"Ash just can't spare any chance for a battle, can he?" wondered Ichigo.

"No, he can't," said Rukia.

"Come on!" Candice said. "Ash, we can't do this. Cipher's in Sinnoh, and we have to stop them. We can't stop at some tournament."

Paul snorted. "Heh, you're probably not joining because you're too scared that you'll lose in the tournament.

"Wait-what did you just say?" Candice suddenly asked.

"I said you're too chicken to join because you think you'll lose!"

"Oh that is IT!" Candice shouted, now really ticked off.

*insert beatdown sounds here*

**Credit goes to Strike Minna for the "Let's beat up Paul =D" idea.**

"Ha!" Paul shouted, although he was really beat up. "Is that all you got?"

"No!" said Candice. "The worst is to come…right now!"

Immediately, a HUGE ice spike jutted out from the ground…right underneath Paul. Guess what that means?

"AAAAAGGGH!" Paul yelled.

"OH MY GOD, PAUL!" Dawn yelled.

Candice walked off, steaming.

Dawn went to a phone booth and said, "Hello? Um, do you think you can surgically remove a large block of ice from a human male's…uh…"

* * *

_Later…_

An ambulance came and they dragged Paul off the ice spike. It must have SUCKED. Then they put him on a stretcher and got him into the ambulance.

"Whoa…I hope he'll be all right…" said Ash.

Candice just turned away, still pretty ticked off.

* * *

_Much Later…_

The hospital called to tell Paul would be just fine.

"Great…I hope he's okay…" said Dawn.

"_I_ hope he's not," said Candice.

* * *

_Much MUCH later…_

"So, are you alright?" asked Ash.

"Yeah…" said Paul. "I'll be okay…especially 'cause I've got balls of steel…"

Ash immediately called Aeron.

"Huh?" wondered Paul. "What are you doing?"

"Hello, Aeron?" asked Ash. "I just called to let you know that…Paul stole your line."

"Yeah, okay."

"So, are you going to do anything about it?"

"No."

"What?"

"He's got Gladias right? And Gladias is steel, right? So, it's okay for him to say that. And let me guess, Candice got ticked off and caused a GIGANTIC spike of ice to appear underneath…well…you know. So, is he still living?"

"Ye-"

Ash hadn't even finished speaking when Candice shot a freezing beam of cold through the window, which arced downwards and blasted Paul…in the same spot.

"Uh…no, actually."

"WHAT? What, did Candice blast a freezer beam and shot him down there again…am I right, or am I wrong?"

"Yeah, she did just that…"

* * *

_And so, after Ash forced them to enter the tournament…_

"Welcome everyone to the Colosseum! This…wait, do I need to go over the rules?" asked the announcer guy.

"YES!" some other person shouted.

"Okay, this challenge is a tournament-based battle system. Each trainer can only use three Pokémon, and only one can be sent out at a time. When all of a trainer's Pokémon have been knocked out, the match is over. Do I need to repeat the rules?"

"YES!" some other person shouted.

"Okay, this challenge is a tournament-based battle system. Each trainer can only use three Pokémon, and only one can be sent out at a time. When all of a trainer's Pokémon have been knocked out, the match is over. Do I need to repeat the rules?"

"YES!" some other person shouted.

"Okay, this challenge is a tournament-based battle system. Each trainer can only use three Pokémon, and only one can be sent out at a time. When all of a trainer's Pokémon have been knocked out, the match is over. Do I need to repeat the rules?"

"YES!" some other person shouted.

Ash and Paul were getting very annoyed now.

* * *

_Several thousand repetitions later…_

"Okay, this challenge is a tournament-based battle system. Each trainer can only use three Pokémon, and only one can be sent out at a time. When all of a trainer's Pokémon have been knocked out, the match is over. Do I need to repeat the rules?"

"YES!" some other person shouted.

"JUST GET ON WITH IT ALREADY GOD DANG IT!" Ash screamed, furious.

"FINE!" the other person yelled.

"All right!" Ash said. "Looks like I'm up first!" He jumped down directly into the arena. "Okay, who's taking me on?"

"You forgot I entered, didn't you?" asked Wallace.

"Oh, crud," said Ash.

* * *

_Hoenn League Champion Wallace would like to battle! (Yay! The awesome part came! =D)_

"Go, Milotic!" shouted Wallace.

"Come on, Sceptile!" shouted Ash.

"Milotic! Use Ice Beam!" shouted Wallace.

Milotic began to generate icy energy, and then fired it at Sceptile in a beam which rapidly froze over. However, Sceptile jumped out of the way and then bolted towards Milotic.

"Sceptile!" shouted Ash. "Leaf Blade!"

Sceptile's leaves on his arms combined into two on each arm and he slashed Milotic with his new blades.

"Milotic! Dragon Pulse!" shouted Wallace.

Milotic generated purple dragonic energy and then fired it out in a pulse.

Sceptile dodged again and then blasted vegetation in all directions, slamming Milotic with a storm of leaves. (It literally was the move Leaf Storm!)

"Now, Leaf Blade!" shouted Ash.

Sceptile zoomed towards Milotic and his leaves glowed again.

But as Sceptile zoomed close…

"Milotic! Blizzard!" shouted Wallace.

Sceptile's eyes widened in shock.

Milotic blasted him with a storm of ice, which sent Sceptile flying.

Sceptile quickly jumped back up and then suddenly, the bulbs on his back began to glow with solar energy.

Wallace was shocked. "Milotic, Rain Dance!"

Too late.

Sceptile blasted an intense beam of sunlight at Milotic's face. (Yay for Solarbeams! =D)

**BOOM!**

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA- *gasp* -HAHAHAHAHAHAHA-

**HEY! WHO'S SABOTAGING MY STORY?**

**KA-BLAM!**

_While the author beats up the saboteur…_

Milotic was defeated.

"W00T! I WON!" shouted Ash.

A Pokéball konked him on the head. "OW!" he yelled.

"We get to use_ two_ more Pokémon, right?" asked Wallace.

"Oh crap," said Ash.

Candice watched. "I think Ash has only TWO Pokémon on him that can battle Water types especially. He might have problems…"

Paul snorted. "Wow, you're so chicken that-"

Candice slugged him in the face and stalked off again, steamed. **(Geez, she sure is steamed, and she's the gym leader of ice? Whoa.)**

* * *

_Several matches that I don't feel like going through later…_

Ash was now in the semifinals! =D

And guess who his opponent was?

"Oh crap," said Ash.

It was…TAKUTO. The guy who had the Darkrai and used it to plow through all eight of Sinnoh's Gyms. Ash had defeated his Darkrai once, but not before his Darkrai had knocked out HALF his party.

"Well, it's been a while, Ash," said Takuto.

"Um…hey…Takuto…" Ash said.

"Let's see how much you've improved since our last battle!" said Takuto.

* * *

_Pkmn Trainer Takuto would like to battle!_

"If you haven't guessed, already, I'll be using Darkrai!" shouted Takuto, tossing his Pokéball and releasing the Pokémon of Nightmares.

"Well, then, I'll be using Heracross!" shouted Ash.

Heracross and Darkrai clashed a little.

"Heracross, attack Darkrai with a whole ton of Fury Cutter!" shouted Ash.

Heracross drew back one of his fists and then slashed Darkrai multiple times in succession, each hit dealing more damage than before.

"Darkrai, Dark Pulse and Ice Beam! In tandem!" shouted Takuto.

Darkrai generated a blast of darkness and fired it at Heracross. Then he generated cold energy and blasted it out in a beam.

To their surprise, Heracross merely bent down and held his hands above his head in an Endure. Both attacks slammed into him. But he emerged still up, but badly beaten.

"Heracross, Counter!" shouted Ash.

Takuto and Darkrai stared in shock.

Heracross unleashed a devastating punch on Darkrai, filled with all the energy Darkrai had thrown at him doubled. (Note: Ice Beam and Dark Pulse are actually special moves, so I kind of messed up. OH WELL.)

Darkrai fell, but got up quickly and then generated a sphere of darkness, unleashing a bolt of it in a Dark Void.

Heracross quickly dodged and then delivered a quick swipe of his claws to Darkrai.

"Nice Brick Break, Heracross!" shouted Ash. "Now…finish it! Hyper Beam!"

Heracross generated huge energy and then blasted it out in one intense beam towards Darkrai.

However, Darkrai dodged and then blasted Heracross with a Dark Pulse, blasting Heracross back. Darkrai continued to blast Dark Pulses at Heracross, which Heracross dodged around.

"Heracross, Megahorn! Let's go!" shouted Ash.

Heracross's…ah…"horn" glowed with energy and he charged forward and slammed into Darkrai with intense force, and Darkrai was even stunned from the blow.

"Now!" Ash shouted.

Heracross unleashed a Hyper Beam on Darkrai, and this time, there was no avoiding it.

**KA-BLAM!**

Darkrai was down from the attack.

"Darkrai, return," said Takuto. "Go, Latios!"

Takuto's second Pokémon, Latios, came out.

"Heracross, Megahorn!" shouted Ash.

Heracross immediately tried to charge Latios.

"It won't work!" shouted Takuto. "Latios! Luster Purge!"

Latios began to generate lustrous rays of pale purple and blue-gray light in front of him. He then fired it out in rays, slamming Heracross and knocking him out.

Ash recalled Heracross. "Go! Glalie!"

Glalie came out…and then Ice Beamed Ash out of affection. O_o

Everyone gaped.

* * *

_One melting Ash out of the ice block later…_

"G-Glalie…" Ash said, his teeth chattering. "I-Ice B-Beam!"

Glalie immediately generated cold energy and then fired out a beam of white energy which rapidly froze over. **(Wait, did I describe this in this chapter already? OH WELL.)**

Latios quickly flew out of the way, and then zoomed towards Glalie.

"Latios, Giga Impact!" shouted Takuto.

Latios tucked in his "arms" zoomed towards Glalie with alarming force, energy rushing around him. **(Why do I hate my descriptions?)**

"Glalie, Ice Beam!" shouted Ash.

Glalie immediately ducked underneath the flying Latios and then blasted Latios with Ice Beam, causing Latios to crash into the side of the arena, but he got back up, whirled and then shot towards Glalie. His wings glowed in a metallic sort of way, and then he raked Glalie with his wing.

"Yes, Latios!" shouted Takuto. "Keep up the Steel Wing Barrages!"

Latios continued to rake Glalie with his wings.

"Now! Dragon Claw!" shouted Takuto.

Latios's claws glowed, and he raked Glalie with them. He dug them into Glalie and prepared a Luster Purge…

"Glalie!" Ash suddenly shouted. "Now's our chance! Sheer Cold!"

Latios's eyes widened. He immediately tried to get away, but his situation was hopeless. He had dug his claws too deeply into Glalie to remove them.

Glalie began to draw in icy energy, and then unleashed it in one enormous blast, which hit Latios dead on, point blank.

Latios fell, unconscious.

Takuto recalled Latios. "Well, Ash, impressive. You've knocked out _both_ my Darkrai and Latios, and only one of your Pokémon has fainted. But I warn you, this is one of my strongest Pokémon. Now go, Heatran!"

Glalie did the thing a smart person would be: run away.

Heatran blasted wave after wave of fire at Glalie. Pretty soon, the entire battlefield was set ablaze. (Good thing Glalie floats.)

"AAAAAGGGHHH! HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!" Ash shouted.

Takuto just happened to be in the only area that wasn't burning.

"Lucky!" growled Ash.

"Heatran, Magma Storm!" shouted Takuto.

Heatran stomped on the ground and roared, sending magma shooting out in all directions. After that, it was pretty much rinse and repeat. Glalie got hit several times by the waves of magma, eventually knocking him out.

"Well, Ash, this has been an interesting battle. It's a shame you're going to lose," said Takuto.

"Not really!" shouted Ash. "Now it's Pikachu's turn!"

Pikachu jumped onto the battlefield.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" shouted Ash.

"Heatran, Flamethrower!" shouted Takuto.

Pikachu sent a pulsing blast of electricity at Heatran, which Heatran easily countered with a jet of flame from his mouth.

But as the two continued to clash…

"It's time now," said a Cipher Peon. "This is our chance to defeat Ash Ketchum."

"Uh huh," said his comrade, not taking his eyes off a DSi XL.

"Get ready. Bring out your strongest Pokémon, troops. There are also some of us outside. All of us will attack when I give the signal. We will crush everyone easily with our Pokémon."

"Sir yes sir!" shouted the Cipher Peons. Many heads turned their way, forcing the Cipher Peons to scramble. Except for the one that was playing Pokémon Pearl Version on the DSi XL. **(Wait, a Pokémon game in a Pokémon fanfic? Why does this seem strange to me? Anyway, Credit goes to Strike-Minna for that, too.)**

"Whoa! It's a Cipher Peon!" shouted one of the spectators. This caused widespread panic in the crowd.

"Uh huh," said the Cipher Peon with the DSi XL.

"Let's get out of here!" the crowd shouted, running away.

"Uh huh," said the Cipher Peon with the DSi XL.

"Get back here, you idiot!" hissed the commander.

"Uh huh," said the Cipher Peon with the DSi XL.

…

"Uh huh," said the Cipher Peon with the DSi XL.

…

"Uh huh," said the Cipher Peon with the DSi XL.

…

Dawn noticed the crowd clearing from a certain spot. "What the-?" she wondered. She decided to go check it out. "Be right back, guys," she said, and headed out.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Pikachu blasted Heatran with a Thunder, and it actually collided.

**ZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTT!**

Heatran was hit hard with a bolt of thunder from the sky, and the attack left him paralyzed.

"Yeah!" Ash shouted. "Now, Pikachu-"

"Ready?" asked a Cipher Peon.

"Yep," said all the Cipher Peons he was commanding.

"Okay, let's go! 3…2…1…now!"

**KA-BOOM!**

"WAAAAH!" Ash shouted.

Immediately, Cipher Peons flooded into the area.

"These guys again?" wondered Ichigo. "Okay, Bankai!" A black and red storm of energy erupted around him, and he dashed out of it, complete with new coat and, no duh, Tensa Zangetsu.

"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!" Rukia released her Shikai.

"Bankai!" shouted Renji. A storm of energy erupted around him as well. He emerged with…well, do I have to go over it all the time?

The Cipher Peons brought out their strongest Pokémon…a Level 1 Bidoof.

*insert record scratch here*

"…"

Ichigo lowered his sword. "Errr…what?"

"Crud!" shouted a Cipher Peon. "We used up our strongest Pokémon by having them use Explosion! We gotta-"

Ash looked pretty, well, not happy.

"I got my match interrupted…and THIS is what I get?" Ash yelled, furious.

Everyone decided it was a good choice to back up.

Ash held up his Pokédex and the armor plate turned into energy, flowing into his Pokédex.

"HERE'S WHAT YOU GET FOR PUTTING ME THROUGH THIS BULL CRAP, CIPHER!" shouted Ash, thumbing the button.

On the screen of Ash's Pokédex, an ancient Pokemon, never seen by the eyes of many, appeared. It roared, and one part of it was zoomed in on. Ash pulled back his Pokédex and held out his free hand, which generated a jagged sphere of aura. Ash whipped up his hands around, and then slammed them together.

"Come forth, my friend!" Ash shouted. "Champion Fighting Elemental Resurrection!" A blue whirlwind whipped up around him, drawing in strange, free floating blue particles.

Within his inner world, an immensely powerful being rose, ethereal light flowing through him.

The blue typhoon started to die down, revealing powerful, heavily muscled arms. These carried kite-shaped weapons on their wrists similar to Aldamon's (from Digimon's fourth season). And then his full form started to appear. An aerodynamically armored lower half was revealed, with sleek talons designed for running at high speed, or doing anything else fast. His torso had a similarily sleek armor, form-fitting and more for quick movement than defensive power. Wings shining with an aura untamable by mere mortals spread from his back, flapping briefly to clear the storm from his head, which looked similar to Zephyrmon's (also from Digimon Frontier, fourth season), but was more male, with slightly fiercer eyes, and the wings on his head pointed backwards more, and the feathers were longer and sleeker. They actually pointed backwards rather than downwards. The mask also covered a bit more of his face. All over his body, aura flickered and surged, ready to do some butt-kicking.

The new Pokemon flew down towards a blue circle with the kanji for "Fighter". He landed on his knee, swept his arms to the sides and unleashed a fury of aura in all directions. He then jumped up and spun himself around in a vortex of aura before coming down standing tall. "G-Force Auralda!" he shouted. **(YES, IF YOU ARE WONDERING, I COPIED, PASTED, AND EDITED THIS PASSAGE FROM AURALDA'S DEBUT CHAPTER. SHAME ON ME.)**

"OH S***!" yelled the Cipher Peons. "Let's get out of here, quick!"

"I don't think so," said Auralda. "Aura Sphere!"

Auralda began generating spheres of aura and then blasted them at the Cipher Peons, creating pretty big explosions.

"AUGH!" shouted the Cipher Peons.

The next thing they saw was a holy blue light. Wait, HOLY?

"Ah…I think we'll be seeing God soon…" said one Cipher Peon.

"What are you, Christian?" yelled the Commander.

"No, I'm Catholic," said the Cipher Peon.

"Aura Storm!" shouted Auralda.

A harsh aura generated from…well, aura, emitted from Auralda's hands, and then he pointed them at the Cipher Peons, and generated a HUGE storm of aura to blast down on top of them.

When it was over, the Cipher Peons were defeated.

Auralda landed and then aura flowed around him, and when it dispelled he was just Ash again.

"What was that?" Takuto asked.

"Well…it's…" Ash began, wondering how he was going to explain it.

"Let's just settle with 'a long story'," said Paul.

"Ah," said Takuto. "Well, it seems our match is delayed because the Colisseum has sustained heavy damage from Cipher's assault, all those Pokémon using Explosion and all…"

"Let's continue!" shouted Ash.

"WHAT?"

"Us doing a battle has nothing to do with the condition of the Coliseum, right?" asked Ash. "Let's Battle!"

"Ash, can't you take your mind off of battling for even a minute?" groaned Candice.

"Geez, Candice, I didn't know you were so-"

Two seconds later, an ambulance was forced to pull up next to the Colisseum for the same patient a second time that day.

**Sheesh…Candice is cool (literally), but you really shouldn't get on her bad side.**

**So, that was Chapter 26! Hope you enjoyed reading it, and remember to review!**

**Hard to believe this thing took so long to make…:P**

**Thanks to Strike-Minna, by the way.**

**Now, I wondered what happened to the Cipher Peon with the DSi XL…**

"Piplup! Hydro Pump!"

"Uh huh," said the Cipher Peon as he was blown away by the mass of water.

**Oh.**


	21. Another Year, another Falcon Punch

**I'm not dead. Whoop de doo.**

**Aeron Solo wuz here (XD) and wuz invading 5h4d0w5 0f t3h D3m0n!**

**Axel Nightblazer: (glares evilly)**

**Aeron: wut?**

**Axel: … (holds up Spartan Laser)**

**IMA FIRIN' MAH LAZUH!**

**BOOOM!**

_**It's an Epic Win!**_

**SHEESH! HOW MANY SABOTEURS DO I HAVE TO DEAL WITH THESE DAYS? THIS IS DRIVING ME INSANE!**

**Oh well. Here's Chapter 27 for you to enjoy. Due to saboteurs, I got delayed, and then I decided to freak everyone out by not posting anything until now, a very special day for me. The day I posted my first chapter, and also Christmas. (Not exact day, but oh well.)**

**WHAT? AH S/#*! I JUST REMEBERED! IT'S THE ANNIVERSARY OF THIS FANFIC! AND ALSO CHRISTMAS! I WAS PLANNING A PARTY TO CELEBRATE BOTH OF THEM AT THE SAME TIME, BUT I FORGOT TO PREPARE IT! EXCUSE ME, I GOTTA GO! YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN NOW!**

* * *

"Lalalalalalala-I'm a good singer," sang Pikachu. A window broke immediately.

"Pikachu, stop it. Quit breaking all my windows," said Axel.

"SHUT UP!" yelled Ben. "I'M TRYING TO CONCENTRATE! I 'LL BEAT YOU AT HALO 3 THIS TIME AXEL!"

"Ben, this is getting kind of old," said Axel. "I'm gonna grab something to eat."

"WHAT? NO! GET BACK HERE YOU-!"

"Axel's lousy at making friends," commented Aeron.

"Yeah," agreed Hanna. "Now, what are we going to do now? Cipher's running off doing stuff and we're just sitting around playing video games."

"Well, maybe we'll be able to figure out where Cipher is," said Aeron. "But lately, something's been bothering me…"

"What?"

"Remember how we collected the relic of the Ice Elemental, Arcticryo, in the Snowpoint Temple?"

"Yep."

"Well, lately, it seems to be acting…odd. Like it's reiatsu is resonating with someone else's…and that someone else is close."

"Huh," said Hanna. "Wonder who that is?"

"Certainly not me or you," said Aeron. "And not Axel or Aerín, either. Anabel is already the herald of two others. Once two have chosen a herald, it doesn't seem likely that a third will choose that one."

"Well, it certainly couldn't be _him_, could it?" Hanna asked, pointing at Ben.

"No," said Aeron. "So that leaves…Sam."

"But that's impossible," said Hanna. "He has no spiritual power at all."

"On the surface, no," said Aeron. "But you never know. There might be more to him than anyone knows…even himself."

* * *

_Later…_

"So, why do you think Cipher's been keeping quiet lately?" asked Sam.

"Because they fled since I'm so awesome!" shouted Ben.

_No you're not,_ thought Aeron. And practically everyone else who shot him a skeptical glance.

"Maybe we should head to other cities to check on them," suggested Anabel.

"Alright, let's go!" shouted Sam.

* * *

_And so…_

"We made it to Canalave City!" said Aerín. "And did they erect a new building?"

"I don't see anything," said Ben.

"Let's ask Byron about it," said Axel.

* * *

_2 minutes later…_

"Well?" asked Sam.

Axel frowned. "He wasn't there. Probably went off on business or something. The thing is…why does it seem like no one's noticed it?"

"Maybe it's super cloaking technology," said Sam.

"Then how could _we _see it?" wondered Axel.

"I don't know," said Sam.

"Maybe only certain people can see anything," said Anabel.

"Oh sure, so how come I can't?" grumbled Ben.

"Because only real heroes can see it," said Sam.

"What? Why?"

"Because I can see it, and you can't. Anabel, Aeron, Hanna, Axel, and Aerín can. That means that you're not a real hero."

"YOU WANT SOME?" Ben shouted.

"Huh?" wondered Sam.

"DIE!" shouted Ben, and he charged towards Sam.

"Okay, Ben, seriously, not cool. Cut it out," said Axel.

"Awww…." Ben looked disappointed.

"Now what?" wondered Aeron.

"We head toward the building," said Axel.

"The _real_ heroes will," said Sam.

"DIE!" shouted Ben, and he charged towards Sam.

"Okay, Ben, seriously, not cool. Cut it out," said Axel.

"Awww…" Ben looked disappointed.

* * *

_Later…_

"We made it!" said Sam.

"BUT I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING!" shouted Ben.

"Too bad you're-"

Anabel raised her hand.

Sam knew it was time to backpedal.

"So, how do we get in?" asked Aerín.

"We…" Sam rattled off ten thousand ideas, all not very good.

"DIE!" shouted Ben, and he charged towards Sam.

This time Axel just stuck out his arm and clotheslined Ben.

**WHAM!**

"ALERT. ALERT. ALERT."

Axel froze when he heard that robotic voice.

Cipher Peons began pouring into the area.

"HEY! IT'S AXEL NIGHTBLAZER AND HIS GROUP!" shouted one guy. "KILL THEM AND YOU'LL BE FAMOUS!"

"Sheesh," said Axel. "How can you guys hope to kill me? Especially…" He raised all his Pokéballs.

**FWASH!**

Around Axel appeared Pikachu and Chikorita, as well as four others: Ninetales, Lucario, Latias (AAH OH MY GOD AXEL HAS A LEGENDARY POKEMON), and…some water-type Pokémon none of the Cipher Peons could identify. It was a quadruped, blue sea lion-like Pokémon, with long, white whiskers extending from its snout and head, and on the back of its head was a large, rounded beige helmet-like shell with spikes and a spear-like, pointed protrusion in the front. Its underbelly was covered by a dull bluish gray seashell-like carapace, and its limbs were covered with beige, sectioned bracer-like coverings, looking as if comprised of seashells with the forelimbs' bracers sporting spikes at the top. It had three navy digits on each limb, and a fin-like, splayed tail with the innermost section being beige like the seashell-like portions of its body.

"…because my entire A-Team is here," said Axel.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?" shouted the Cipher Peons, pointing at the Water Type.

"Oh, him? He's just some Daikenki that's going to kick your butt," said Axel. "Daikenki's no pushover, let me say that much.

"Oh well, what gives?" said a Cipher Peon. "Go, Golem! Rock Throw! Let's take down that Nineta-"

Daikenki (the mystery Pokémon of Axel's) suddenly crouched, then leapt into the air with more grace than his awkwardly placed limbs would suggest. The shell on his head began glowing blue, and he whipped his head back. Then he slammed it down upon Golem, knocking him down and out.

"WHAT? GOLEM WENT DOWN IN ONE HIT?" shouted a Cipher Peon.

Axel looked annoyed. "What did you think? That Daikenki's weak? First, Shell Blade is a water-type attack, so it would obviously deal tons of damage. Second, I've also had Daikenki for nearly all my life. He's nearly as old as Latias is, and she's nearly as old as I am. So both of them are among my strongest."

Latias beamed and hugged Axel around the neck. Hearts were practically floating off of her. Everybody else sweatdropped, Axel included, but he smiled in a half-amused, half-exasperated manner, and said, "Latias, is this really the time?"

Latias blew a lock of Axel's hair out of her face. _No, but does it matter?_" She turned briefly and pulverized a Glalie that was trying to Sheer Cold her with an immensely powerful Psychic, slamming the poor (r)ice ball into the floor. _Then again, I don't want to romance you in the middle of a battle,_ she conceded, and released him, floating back to the rest of Axel's A-team to get ready for battle.

"Absol!" shouted a Cipher Peon. "Night Slash!"

Absol's blade glowed with an eerie light, and he jumped and brought his head down, and the blade seemed to lengthen as he moved…or was it just that light? Anyway, he didn't get to use it, because a cerulean blue blast of energy slammed into him, exploding.

"Aw crap! An Aura Sphere!" shouted a Cipher Peon. "Okay, Breloom, use Brick Break on that Lucari- huh?"

An orange light was appearing in front of Ninetales' mouth, revealing a fireball that was rapidly growing in size. It grew larger and larger, and it felt hotter and hotter in the area. Soon, it was larger than Ninetales, and too bright to look at.

Now Ninetales was raising it above her head and rearing up on her hind legs. _"SOLAR WIND DESTROYER!"_ she shouted, and blasted the fireball at the Breloom.

The next thing anybody knew was a massive explosion of fire and wind.

When everyone could finally look, Breloom was down. And that is using the least descriptive language.

"Crap!" yelled a Cipher Peon. "Okay, Quagsire, use Sur-"

Suddenly, another light began glowing, but from another place. Now it was green. Everyone turned to see rays of light shining around Chikorita's leaf, getting sucked in. The leaf itself was rapidly lightening, and soon, it too, was too bright to look at.

"Solarbeam!" Chikorita shouted cheerfully, and shot a beam of this energy at Quagsire, blasting him out of consciousness.

"Come on!" yelled the Cipher Peon. "Scizor, get her-wha-?"

Pikachu, somehow, was now falling from the sky, his fist drawn back, with Fire, Ice, and Lightning energy swirling around it. He fell towards Scizor, and guess what he yelled?

"FALCON PUNCH!"

**BIG KA-BOOM! =D**

Obviously, Pikachu caused an explosion of energy when he hit. And I will let you know, Pikachu hits HARD. Scizor was burned, frozen, and electrocuted all at once. This was enough to knock him out.

"W00T!" Pikachu shouted. "Pikachu is teh Greatest! All bow down to Pikachu!"

The Cipher Peons were pretty, well…not happy.

"Pikachu demand spaghetti!" Pikachu shouted.

"Hey, what are their levels?" asked a Cipher Peon.

"Let's see…The Chikorita is 100, the Lucario is 100, the Ninetales is 100, the Latias is 100, the 'Daikenki' is 100…all 100s. Crap."

"And the Pikachu?"

"One hundr-"

"FALCON…"

"WHAT THE? IT'S GOING UP! PAST 100! 7000...8000...NO…SAY IT ISN'T SO!"

"What? What's its level?"

"IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAND!" yelled the Cipher Peon with the level scanner.

"WHAT? OVER 9000? THERE'S NO WAY THAT CAN BE RIGHT!"

At this point, the counter experienced fatal system overload, and died in a fiery explosion of plastic and metal shrapnel.

"…PUNCH!"

"WHAT THE FU-"

**BOOOOM!**

The rest of the Cipher Peons decided to bolt, because Pikachu was going to Falcon Punch them all if he didn't get his spaghetti.

"Wow, Falcon Punch, 'IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAND!,' and 'WHAT THE FU-BOOM!' all chained together?" Aeron asked. "Talk about Internet Meme land."

"Whatever." Axel tried the door. "It's locked," he said.

"Leave it to me," said Hanna. She went up to a computer nearby and began typing random things in. "Let's see…Darkness? No. XD-ARC? No. Aizen? No." She rammed the keyboard, frustrated. "What could it be?"

"Try 'Password'!" said Aerín.

"WHAT?" yelled Hanna.

Aerín typed in "Password" and pressed Enter.

The door opened.

Hanna's jaw dropped.

"I see when it comes to passwords, Cipher's security hasn't evolved from Gameboy Level," Aeron noted.

They went in to find another door. This time there was no computer.

Axel was contemplating how to open it.

"Isn't it obvious, Axel?" Aeron asked. "All you have to do is knock three times. It's simple manners." He went up to the door and-

**BAM! BAM! BAM!**

-hammered the door really hard with his fist three times.

The poor door didn't stand a chance against Aeron. It was only made of titanium. Aeron can break through _tri_tanium with ease. It crumpled and fell inwards, producing a loud clanging noise when it hit the floor.

Axel looked at him. "Knocking down doors isn't very polite, you know," he said.

"I knocked first," Aeron pointed out. "They know they have company now. Problem is, it's the police."

Aeron began cracking up while everyone else just groaned and rolled their eyes, save for Axel, who thought it was pretty funny and cracked up as well.

"Well, let's get moving," Sam said, walking through the door. Just in time to see a bunch of Slakings wearing Silk Scarves jumping at him with Giga Impact. "O_o WHAT THE FU-?"

**KABOOM!**

Sam flinched…and suddenly saw a wall of ice in front of him. "What the-?"

"That's strange," said Aeron. "The Slakings have had their abilities Skill-swapped to Huge Power, yet they're not breaking it? This could only mean…"

Sam looked down at his arm, and saw that a gauntlet had appeared on his forearm, with icy mist around it. It was the palest blue you could get, and he thought those were claws on the end, ready to slice up anybody. "Wha-?"

"Sam, you have been chosen," said Aeron. "The great Elemental Spirit of Ice has chosen you as its herald. Do you take this duty?"

Sam stared at the gauntlet, and was suddenly aware that he didn't feel quite alone. "I do," he said.

"Then hold up your Pokédex," said Aeron.

Sam complied.

Aeron held it, and then suddenly disassembled and reassembled it into a different shape-like a D-Tector from Digimon Frontier. He held out the new one to Sam. "This is your Pokédex Ultra. It will help you unlock your inner power. Carry it at all times."

Sam took it, and gazed at it and the gauntlet with wonder and pride. He thumbed the switch, and the gauntlet was turned into energy and sucked into the Pokédex. "Okay. Let's do this!"

An image of a powerful being flared into life, howling at the moon. It's form wavered and dissolved into the kanji for ice, which was blazed straight onto Sam's Pokedex Ultra. Sam pulled it back, and then whirled his other hand up, which now had a sphere of pale blue energy blazing in it. Sam extended both hands outwards, and then swung them around, slamming the two together in an epic way.

"Come forth, my friend!" he shouted. "Ice Elemental Resurrection!" He pulled the two apart, enveloping himself in a blizzard.

Inside the blizzard, Sam fell down on all fours, and his body began to warp. It changed into a wolf's body, and the blizzard cleared to reveal…well…a wolf. He had fur as white as you could ever get, though it had a silvery sheen to it. Streaks of fur running down his spine, on the backs of his legs, on his belly, and along the top of his tail were an icy blue. He had a silvery-white headcrest bearing resemblance to part of a snowflake, and his irises were glowing a pale blue against his white irises and fur.

The wolf bounded down, landing on a platform with the kanji for _ice_ emblazoned on it. He howled, and a storm of icicles shot up around him. "Lone Wolf Arcticryo!"

"What the heck?" yelled the Cipher Peons.

"I am the supreme entity of ice, Arcticryo!" said the wolf. "Ready? Because here I come!"

Arcticryo immediately pounced and slammed a Slaking far away. Before anyone could react, he had opened his mouth and fired several beams of light that rapidly froze over, freezing a good quantity of the others.

"CRAP! SLAKING, USE GIGA IMPACT!" shouted a Cipher Peon.

Arcticryo dodged and let the Slaking trip over his own feet. Then he jumped up and bit the guy, his teeth shining with icy energy. The Slaking howled in pain, then fell, unconscious.

Arcticryo then jumped and slashed several more with his claws, tripping and slamming another with his tail.

"ALL OF YOU! JUMP AT HIM WITH GIGA IMPACT!" shouted a Cipher Peon.

They all complied, but then Arcticryo crouched and began letting off cold energy, freezing them all in place. Then, with icy lightning bolts crackling around him, he pounced, slamming several Slaking and bounding back to slam more.

"CRAP! WE GOTTA RUN!" shouted the Cipher Peons.

"No you won't!" said Arcticryo. He opened his mouth, and icy energy began gathering at his mouth. "Sub-Zero Cannon!"

Arcticryo blasted a Rainbow colored beam that INSTANTLY froze over into jagged ice, which slammed the Cipher Peons, freezing them in place.

"Wow…" Ben said.

Arcticryo's form froze over, and shattered, revealing just Sam, who got up and dusted himself off.

"Whoa, Arcticryo's a real powerhouse…" said Aerin.

"YES! I am awesome!" said Sam. "I am the greatest! All bow down to Sam! As celebration, I demand ice cream!"

Anabel raised her hand.

Sam immediately knew it was time to backpedal.

* * *

**Random Bonus Story…XD**

"Lalalalala…I'm a good singer…" Pikachu sang. Another window broke, but this would be more cumbersome to deal with, because they were in some party room or whatever THAT DIDN'T BELONG TO THEM.

"SHUT UP! I'M TRYING TO CONCENTRATE!" shouted Ben. "WHY CAN'T I WIN IN BRAWL? WHY?"

"Hey, where do you think Axel went and why do you think he brought us here?" wondered Sam, knocking Aeron (who was playing as Ike) into the void of the Bridge of Eldin.

"He said something about a party," said Aeron, coming back to the edge behind Sam (who was playing as Luigi) and knocking him off somewhere with a Smash Attack. "At least there's a Wii here. And a Brawl file with all characters."

**SLAM!**

The door slamming forced everyone to look up to see Axel running into the room with his arms full of bags. He set them all down, began pulling stuff out, and hung stuff on the wall as fast as he could. "Must…get…ready…for…party…" He dashed out of sight for a moment.

"Sheesh," said Sam. "At least he doesn't need us to lug in another Christmas tree. _That_ one was a nightmare."

* * *

_One hour later…_

"Well, everyone's here, and everything's ready," said Axel.

Uryu was being merciless to the dartboard and using Seele Schneiders (That which slits the soul)-shoot, I spoiled it. Oh well. Toshiro was getting annoyed that no one at the party was calling him Captain Hitsugaya, Anabel and Ash were flirting somewhere, Ben was trying to take everyone on in Smash Bros. Brawl, Ichigo and Aeron were talking somewhere, Dawn was trying to impress the crowd with her Pokémons' flashy Contest Moves, Wallace was outmatching her with his own contest moves, Pikachu and Chikorita were raiding the food table, and so on and so forth.

"Too bad Rinna couldn't make it," said Hanna.

"But wouldn't that actually be a good thing?" Axel asked. "Because Rinna brings chaos wherever she goes."

"Good point," Hanna said. "But it still would be more interesting with her around."

**(NOTE: Rinna is Ice Princess Rinna's OC. But I am sort of on good terms with her, so I bring Rinna in every now and then.)**

"So, this is one heck of a party, huh?" asked Toshiro.

"Yeah, I'm really glad I came!" Renji said, grabbing some punch.

"So, what do we do now?" wondered Kotone.

**TECHNO**

**DANCE **

**PARTY**

Everyone began dancing to Caramelldansen. Of course, few were doing the actual dance.

* * *

_And now, Aeron Solo will sing Karaoke!_

"Shadows of the Demon-" A window broke and everyone laughed.  
"Fanfiction's seen it-for one whole year-" Another window broke and there was more laughing.  
"No one likes it, and it's really gay…Bro made me sing this and I'm…gonna kill him-"

"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING AERON?" Axel yelled.

"Improving the song," Aeron replied.

"CUT!"

* * *

_Take two._

_And now, Aeron Solo will sing Karaoke!_

_Wait, where is he?_

"OH MY GOD, HE'S ON THE CHANDELIER!" Hanna screamed.

"Wha-?" Axel looked up.

"HERE'S MY REVENGE FOR ALL THE BULL**** YOU'VE BEEN PUTTING ME THROUGH!" Aeron shouted, one hand on the chandelier cord, one hand on his Zanpaku-to.

_Shik._

**CRASH!**

* * *

**Ow…that had to hurt a lot. Aeron must have been REALLY ticked off.**

**It's amazing to see how far I've come…man. Galleom, the Demon Pokémon, the Elemental Admins, the Ancient Elemental beings (Arcticryo, Gladias, Auralda, Pyrelios, and Arboreon), awesome Bankai scenes, and so on…unfortunately, this forces me to look back on my first chapters and say: "What was I thinking?"**

**I thank you all for even bothering to read this, as well as some select people:**

**Crystal Shards/Strike-Minna for actually REVIEWING and giving me feedback and ideas for later chapters.**

**Aeron Solo for helping me write each chapter and craft it to the best it can be.**

**Mister P for helping me figure out stuff on how to begin my fanfic. He left Fanfiction a while ago and probably doesn't know I'm saying this, but I thank him anyway.**

**My friends Sam and Ben (their names were changed as countermeasure against stalkers) for inspiration and letting me humiliate characters based on them.**

**Well, happy One Year Anniversary to Shadows of the Demon, and I wish a Very Merry Christmas to all of you, and a happy new year!**

**P.S. If you don't like seeing Axel and Aeron that much, stop reading. Because you will be seeing them a WHOLE TON FOR THE NEXT CHAPTERS.**


	22. Attack of the Psycho Lugia

**AND SHADOWS OF THE DEMON IS BACK!**

**Sorry guys. I was working on my other fanfic, **_**A Tale of Shining Stars**_** (PS: It's a story of how Mario, Luigi, Axel, Aeron, and many other characters save the universe right after **_**Shadows of the Demon,**_** AKA this story. It's going to be really epic. Please read it.)**_**.**_** And I kind of neglected this. Sorry again.**

**I decided that it would be a good time to start writing this thing again due to a very special event in my life. What is it? Just read on.**

**So yeah. Now I've returned and will be doing stuff in Cipher's research center in Sinnoh! And as always, Axel and Aeron are immediately up to their necks in trouble! Yay!**

**Okay people. What the heck. No matter how much I ask, you guys never review. I even turn on the anonymous review, and not much happens.**

**DOES ANYONE EVEN LIKE THIS THING? OTHER THAN ICE PRINCESS RINNA AND BLEACH INUYASHA 222 AND AERON SOLO AND MY FRIENDS WHO I BASED CHARACTERS OFF OF?**

**Guess not. D=**

* * *

"We made it. This has to be the place. It's where his signal is coming from."

"Are you sure? What would _Axel_, of all people, be _here_?"

"We'll just have to find out," a teenager with black hair in a black shikahusho and a white haori that said nine in kanji. "Should we split up and try to find them?"

His companion, a rather short for his age but still fairly tall teenager with blue eyes, silver hair, and wearing a blue shikahusho and haori that said ten in kanji, frowned. "I'm not sure. He definitely isn't alone in there…and I don't mean that in a good way."

"What do you mean by that, Hyoshiro?" the black haired guy asked. "Aeron and Hanna are with him. On top of that, I detect the presence of the Elemental of Ice. What could go wrong?"

Hyoshiro (blue guy) narrowed his eyes. "What I'm saying is that I can detect a lot of shadow Pokémon in there. And also…the Demon element. Are you following me, Haku?"

Haku raised an eyebrow. "Shadow Pokémon? The Demon element? That's odd. But I sense it too. I think we can agree that Axel and Aeron're going to have a lot of fun, especially because they suck at avoiding trouble. Let's go, Hyoshiro."

* * *

Walking through the hallways, Aeron wondered if he had taken a wrong turn. Or rather, all of them had taken a wrong turn.

"We hit a dead end again!" Axel said, frustrated. "All of the hallways look exactly the same!"

"You sure?" asked Aeron. "They're _really_ all the same?"

"Yes!" said Axel. "Same boring floor design, same weird lights on walls, same explosive booby traps that are under Ben's feet-"

"What?" Ben asked.

**KABOOM!**

"See?" said Axel as Ben went sprawling somewhere. "I told you, they all look the same."

Pikachu took a look at a wall. "Hm…" Then he drew back his fist. "FALCON…"

"Huh?" wondered Sam. Hanna narrowed her eyes at the wall, as if trying to see right through it.

"…PUNCH!"

**POWIE!**

The wall was completely destroyed to reveal…an elevator.

"If they hide elevators behind walls, I wonder how the Cipher Peons feel about that," said Aeron.

"I think the Cipher Peons would know," Hanna said. "But if they didn't, that _would_ be pretty bad."

"How did he know it was there…?" Sam wondered.

"Because I am awesome," said Pikachu.

"No you're not, I am," said Sam.

"No, I am better than all of you," said Ben.

Immediately, everyone got into an argument about who was the most awesome.

"Okay, first off, I need to get out of here," said Aeron to no one in particular. "Second of all…" He took in a deep breath.

"**SHUT UP!"**

Everyone stared at him, gaping.

"Okay," said Aeron. "I'm glad you all speak my language. Now let's go."

_

* * *

_

How long have we been here?

Anabel wondered. _It can't have been more than 2 hours, and yet it seems like we've been in the same place for days now._

"What is this place anyway?" Aerín asked, walking over to a computer console. "They're showing Auntie's Metagross and Uncle Aeron owning that tank robot guy on a computer screen…"

"Perhaps they're seeing how well Galleom performed against us," Aeron said. "Apparently, he did very…not well."

"They're also replaying my battle with Stupid Krappy Retarded Ugly Banana," Axel said, looking at another computer screen and seeing Ninetales unleash an Inferno and utterly destroy Rhyperior.

"So then they're analyzing every battle we've had with them," Sam said, watching Axel and Frostelius try to own each other on yet another screen.

"Maybe this is a research center," Axel said.

"That's probably it," said Sam as his battle against the Slakings played on a console. "But I guess that's natural for people to watch me in action, 'cause I'm a real hero."

"YOU DIE!" Ben shouted, running towards Sam.

"Don't even try it," Sam said, holding his hand out.

Suddenly, Ben stopped dead in his tracks. "What the heck?" He looked down. Ice had frozen his feet in place. "Ice? Why you-"

"Come on, guys," Sam said. "We can't spend all our time looking at continuous reruns of our battles. We're moving on."

"Whatever," Axel said. "By the way, an idiot is gonna drop from the ceiling right on top of you."

"Wha-"

A Cipher Peon suddenly dropped down from the ceiling…straight on Sam. "UWAH!" Sam shouted.

"Um…oops…" the Cipher Peon said. Then he looked up at them. "Sorry about t-"

*insert record scratch here*

…

There was a long moment of silence.

"HEY WAIT IT'S AXEL NIGHTBLAZER! I WILL DESTROY YOU!" the Cipher Peon shouted, finally realizing who was in front of him.

"Go, Daikenki," Axel said. (Note: Because I like Daikenki better than whatever his American name is, I will always call him Daikenki.) "Shell Blade!"

The Cipher Peon was sent flying as Daikenki slashed him with his head blade thingy.

"Way too easy," Axel said. "Nice job, Daikenki."

"Egotist," Hanna muttered as Axel began talking to Daikenki about how awesome he was.

* * *

_Elsewhere…_

Izuru looked at the liquid. "Whatever's in there, I bet Captain Kurotsuchi would be happy to find out."

"Please don't bring him up, Izuru. He's creepy," Momo said, shivering.

"Enough, you two," said Uryu. "And FYI, I think those are DNA samples in some liquid. Isshu's Pokémon are probably rather new to them, and they brought samples of DNA from there to study here."

"But wouldn't it make more sense to just bring Isshu's Pokémon themselves here instead of just random DNA samples?" Orihime asked.

"Now that you mention it, that makes a lot more sense. I have no idea why they did things the way they did," said Uryu. "By the way, do you guys feel something weird?"

"It's exactly the reason we're here," said Izuru. "There's Demon Element in this area. It's strongest here. And Soul Society deployed us here to investigate."

"I don't like it that much…" Orihime said.

"No one would," Volkner said. "After all, it _is_ the Demon element." _And because I was an idiot, I can't use my own element right now…until I can get back to Sunyshore and get it back…_

"Guys, look at this!" Toshiro shouted.

They came over to where he was to see a Cipher Peon fighting another Cipher Peon. Both had Shadow Pokémon-one a Grumpig, the other a Lanturn.

"What are they doing?" Momo asked.

"No doubt measuring the performance of their Shadow Pokémon against each other," Toshiro said. "And it seems their attacks do more against other Shadow Pokémon than they used to. It must be a countermeasure to other trainers having Shadow Pokémon."

"And this means?" Chad asked.

"Trouble," Toshiro said.

_

* * *

_

At this point in time…

"Ma'am! You have to come look at this!"

"Eh? What is it?" Some teenage girl wearing blue and a lab coat…and blue shades with black hair walked over to a console.

"It's Aeron Solo and Axel Nightblazer! They've infiltrated our base! What should we do to stop them?"

"We have only one choice," the girl said. "Deploy IS-LGA into the part of the maintenance tunnel that intersects with that route."

"What? But, Luna, ma'am, we can't do that! The damage to the maintenance tunnel-"

"We can repair the damage," Luna said calmly. "But those two must _immediately_ be stopped."

"…but ma'am-"

Luna took off her shades and looked at the Cipher Peon. "I. Said. Do it."

"Eep…yes ma'am."

_

* * *

_

Back to our heroes…

"What the heck, a random glass covered bridge that goes over some tunnel that has many weird cables and pipes and stuff?" Ben wondered. "What the heck is wrong with you Cipher people? Who designed this place to be like this without any missile turrets or anything? Do you have any idea how uncool this is?"

"Like you?" Hanna asked, quickly looking away before Ben brought his evil glare around.

"Let's just cross over…" Axel sighed, and they began to cross. All his Pokémon were out at this point due to his forgetting to recall them. But even so, Axel wasn't sure he was unbeatable at this point. _Something's not right…there's Demon element radiating here…and it only goes closer…_

Suddenly, there was a roaring noise.

"What's that?" Sam shouted. "It sounds like a Pokémon!"

"Not just any Pokémon," Hanna said. "It's a Lugia's…but its song is twisted and dark!"

"What song?" Ben asked, bewildered.

"More later!" Aeron shouted. "But now…"

**THOOM!**

Everyone felt massive force slam down on them.

"This reiatsu…" Axel said. "It really _is_ Demon! And it's getting closer!"

"What do we do?" Anabel shouted.

"Everyone," Axel said. "Get away NOW!"

Before any of them could move, with a roaring noise, a massive flying beast blasted through the tunnel towards the causeway that they were on.

"Ah…" Sam stared at it. "That's…"

"Lugia!" Ben shouted. "But…it's not Lugia at the same time!"

Ben was right. While the beast attacking them indeed did have the shape of a Lugia, he was very different. His body was completely black, and his belly and the spikes on his back were blood red. His feet ended in sharp claws, and his wings glowed with an eerie metallic luster. He glowered at them with shining red eyes.

"We gotta get moving!" Hanna shouted. "Come on, everyone!"

But everyone was too freaked out by the weird Lugia to do anything about it.

Except for a certain Axel Nightblazer.

"Hado 1: Sho (Way of Destruction 1: Thrust)!" Axel shouted, thrusting his hand out. Immediately, everyone was smashed over to the other side of the bridge.

"Run, Axel!" Aerín shouted. "Before-"

Axel was already beginning to move, but it was already too late. So instead, he drew his sword and shouted:

"**BANKAI!"**

**SMASH!**

The Lugia like thing smashed through the bridge, outright destroying it. Debris flew everywhere. Everyone was knocked back by the force of the attack.

When everyone could see again, the bridge was totally wiped out. And the Lugia had flown off, and Axel was nowhere in sight.

"Axel!" Sam shouted.

"No! Axel!" Hanna shouted, a beat after Sam.

"Uncle Axel!" Aerín shouted.

"Axel! Are you okay?" Ben shouted.

"He can't…" Chikorita said. Pikachu just stared in shock. Latias was crying about it.

"Out of all people…how could Axel end up like this?" Anabel asked, staring.

"Axel isn't invincible," Aeron said calmly. "You should know that by now, Anabel."

"What? But…Axel's done amazing things lately! He totally owned Frostelius and-" Ben began.

"This is much different," Aeron said. "This Lugia…is a Demon. I'm not sure even Axel could stand up to him."

"He couldn't have…" Anabel said. "Axel could stand up to _any_ demon! Why'd he fall to this one?"

"Something's much different about him," Aeron said. "He's more powerful than any demon we've ever seen before. We can only keep going on and hope he doesn't come after us."

"I can't believe he's gone…" Chikorita said.

"No," Pikachu said. "No! You're all wrong! Axel's still alive!"

"EH?" everyone shouted. Latias looked overjoyed by this, but everyone else stared at him like he was crazy.

"He's alive," Pikachu said firmly. "And I'm going after him!"

And before anyone could stop him, Pikachu suddenly ran off and hurled himself off the edge of the bridge.

"Pikachu!" Aeron shouted. Suddenly, something red flew past him. "Wha-?"

Latias flew after Pikachu, grabbing him to make sure he didn't hit the ground hard. "Let's go after Axel…together," she said, and she rocketed off at supersonic speed. (The way the debris was scattered allowed her to figure out which way to go.)

"Will they be alright?" Hanna asked.

"I think they'll be okay; they're stronger than the average Pokémon," Aeron said. "And they have determination. And they're right." He looked out. "Axel _is_ still alive. We just have to believe in him."

"Oh…" Hanna said. "Well, in the meantime, _we_ have to do what we can to stop Cipher! Let's go, guys!"

"Right!" everyone shouted, and they headed off to break bread in Cipher's Research Center.

_

* * *

_

"What was that?" Izuru shouted.

Momo didn't answer. She was holding on to him to support herself, and it was all she could do to prevent herself from fainting.

"Two spiritual pressures are clashing," Toshiro said, feeling the pressure himself. "One's the Demon! It's active and in combat!"

"And the other?" Volkner asked, using the wall to support himself.

"It's…" Uryu closed his eyes. Everyone waited for him to confirm who it was, be it another captain or maybe Vizard.

Suddenly, Uryu's eyes flared open in shock. "Wha-how could _this_ be?"

"What?" Orihime asked. "What is it?"

Uryu looked at them. "It's Axel Nightblazer! What's he doing here?"

"Maybe he knew about the Demon as well," Toshiro said. "But if we try to help him, we'd only get in the way. So…we have to defeat all of Cipher's troops that are stationed here! Come on!"

"Yes sir!" the Shinigami shouted, and they ran off to battle whoever.

* * *

"And the winner is…Ash Ketchum!"

"YEAH!" Ash shouted. "I WON!"

"Wonder what he's gonna get, now that he won?" Paul wondered.

"Well, now you get-"

Suddenly, Ash, Paul, Ichigo, Renji, Candice, and Rukia all buckled.

"What?" the announcer said. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," Ichigo said, getting up. _But…what's with the reiatsu? It's Axel's…not to mention clashing with something… _

* * *

"Hyoshiro, do you feel it?" Haku asked.

"Yeah," Hyoshiro said. "That's Axel and Aeron for you-neither one can stay out of trouble for very long."

"Well, we'd better help them out, shouldn't we?" Haku asked.

"Most certainly," Hyoshiro said.

"Hey, you! Stop right there!"

Both of them turned to see an army of Cipher Peons. They were led by a rather large one…with serious muscles.

"I, Exol, will have to stop you right here!" the leader shouted. "I can easily take you down-"

_Exol?_ Hyoshiro thought. _This will be _WAY_ too easy._ He twitched a finger.

"EEK!" Exol immediately recoiled. "Don't hurt me! Please!"

"Screw it," Haku muttered. "After he met Phantoka, he got afraid of everything. And he still is, so Exol's not worth it. Let's just…FIRE MY LAZOR BLAAAAAAAAARRRGGHH!"

All the Cipher Peons were fried. And all of them coughed in chorus.

"Now let's take them down all the way!" Hyoshiro said, drawing a katana from a dark blue sheath on his back.

"You finally speak my language!" Haku said, and black swirled around in his hand, coming together, elonginating into a…bow? And then he pulled the string back and an arrow of light suddenly materialized there…

"EYAAAAAH!"

* * *

"Oh my goodness!" Kotone shouted, crumpling to her knees.

"Ergh…" Silver's brow furrowed as he struggled to stay upright. "So _this _is why we couldn't find Axel anywhere in Eterna City…"

"We should go help him!" Kotone shouted.

"His reiatsu is coming from Canalave City…" Silver said.

"Crap," Kotone said. "We've got a _long_ way to go…"

* * *

The weird Lugia barreled its own head into the wall, and then blasted point blank shadow blasts into the wall. Then it pulled away to see what the fruits of its attacks were.

The smoke cleared…and Axel was there, breathing hard, Bankai released, and injuries bad.

But his confidence hadn't wavered one bit.

"That…all you got…psycho Lugia?" Axel asked. "Then…it's MY turn now!"

Axel raced towards the Lugia, his blades flashing. He slashed at the Lugia, but then the Lugia brought up its wing and the blade smashed against it, grinding and churning up sparks.

"His feathers…are metallic!" Axel noted. He pushed harder.

The Lugia just thrust his wing outward and to the side, and Axel had to fly away or else get flattened.

"Not finished yet," Axel said, and he flapped his wings, sending a storm of Getsu Taihos at the Lugia.

The Lugia breathed in, and dark winds swirled around into a sphere in front of his head, rapidly turning into a cyclone. Then he roared, sending the cyclone blasting towards Axel, and the Getsu Taihos were immediately pulled into it.

_Shiwata!_ Axel thought. (We won't provide a translation to that word.) He quickly raised his sword and slashed, sending a Tsukiren at the storm and negating it. But the Lugia was preparing another one…

"This…is gonna be…harder…then I thought," Axel muttered, bracing himself for the next attack.

**

* * *

**

Random Bonus Story…XD

**If you haven't figured it out yet, this is the special event: Ben (my friend who I based a character on) has his birthday in April (this was posted on the last day of March)! =D This is my (incredibly early) birthday present. Happy (REALLY) Early Birthday Ben!**

"Happy Birthday to me…" Ben sang as he ran up the hill. "I'm a hundred and three-no, wait, why am I singing this song?"

"Okay!" said Axel. "We're all set!"

Ben ran up to the door.

"Hey Ben! You actually showed up!" said Axel.

"Yay!" said Ben. "So, what are we doing?"

"Okay! Let's go!" Axel shouted, not even bothering to answer Ben's question

They went into the party house, where Sam, Aeron, and a bunch of other people were waiting.

* * *

_One shouting of "SURPRISE!" and singing of "Happy Birthday" later…_

"Okay!" said Axel. "This was…"

*insert drumroll here*

"…a surprise for your birthday!" said Axel.

"Yay!" said Ben. "So…what do we do now?"

**TECHNO**

**DANCE**

**PARTY**

Everyone began dancing to Caramelldansen…as usual.

"So…what presents do I get?" Ben asked.

"Well, this is what Sam got you," said Axel, handing him a box.

Ben undid the wrapping and found…a shirt saying: BEN NEEDS TO GET A

And after that, it showed an image of a 1-UP mushroom from Super Mario Galaxy.

Ben looked at it. Then he took out a marker and scribbled on it: MORTON

So now it read: BEN MORTON NEEDS TO GET A (1-UP Mushroom)

"DAH! YOU JUST RUINED IT!" Sam shouted.

"Whatever," Ben said.

"YOU DIE!" Sam shouted. He ran towards Ben.

A foot whipped up and placed itself in front of Sam's.

_Trip._

"WAAAAAH!"

**SMASH!**

"Wow, that was so easy," some redheaded girl said.

"Hey, cool, Rinna actually made it!" Axel said.

"Who's Rinna?" Ben asked.

"She's a friend of mine who I know because I sneak on to the author's Email account and she invades the other story which I am in AKA the things happening after this story's over," Axel said.

**HEY WAIT, YOU SNEAK ON TO MY EMAIL?**

"Yeah, what about it?" Axel asked.

**YOU DIE! IMA FIRIN MAH LAZOR!**

"Aw man," Axel said.

**BLAAAAARRGGGHHH!**

Axel was totally fried. "Cough…anyway, Ben, here's my present." He made a fast recovery (don't ask how) and handed Ben a wrapped present.

Ben unwrapped it. "Cool! It's Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy 1 AND 2 all in one!" Ben looked around. "By the way, is there a sequel to Super Mario Galaxy 2?"

"Nope, it hasn't come out yet," Axel said.

"And here's my present," said Rinna, handing Ben a box.

Ben opened it, and Rinna mysteriously jumped to the other end of the room.

**KABOOM!**

Ben and Axel were engulfed in a massive explosion.

"AHAHAHAHA! IT WAS A BOMB!" Rinna laughed. "PS, that's what you get for not inviting me to the Christmas party, Axel."

"What?" Axel said, making another mysterious fast recovery. "I _did_ invite you. It's just that you don't check your Email enough."

"Whatever," Rinna said. "Anyways I GOTTA GO NOW BYE!"

_She gone!_

**KRESH!**

"Rinna-chan, why do you_ always_ break my tea sets?"

Some swirly portal closed.

"Okay, I didn't enjoy that," Axel said. "So…should we do Brawl?"

"Oh yeah, sure!" Ben said. "I call Link!"

"Dude, _I'm_ Link," Sam said.

"Fine, I call Lucario!" Ben shouted, annoyed that Link got taken.

"Guess I'll go with Marth," Axel said.

"And that leaves me with Ike, as always," said Aeron.

So they had a massive Super Smash Bros. Brawl battle, which turned into a tourney.

The results:

Ben: 32 (aka LAST)

Aeron: 2

Sam: 16

Axel: 1

"W00T! I WON!" Axel said. "I'M THE BEST!"

"Aw, and it was my birthday, too," Ben said.

"Exactly. We're ruining your birthday," said Aeron.

"Because you're not a real hero," Sam said, annoyed that Aeron and Axel had sabotaged him to knock him down to 16th.

"YOU DIE!" Ben shouted.

"Ha, you can't beat me," Sam said.

Ben reached into his pocket and…

Sam stared. "WHAT THE FU-"

**BOOOOOM!**

"W00T! I hit Sam with a grenade! I always wanted to do that! By the way…" Ben looked around as Sam fell on the ground with Xs in his eyes. "Where's the cake?"

"What cake?" Axel asked.

*insert record scratch here*

"…"

Ben's jaw clanked open.

**

* * *

**

Happy Birthday Anyway! =D

**And yes, a happy birthday indeed to my friend Ben. To protect personal information, I will tell you that this is not his real birthday, but it _is_ sometime this month (or is it? I could be lying, for all you know)**_**. **_**Again, this is my birthday present to him this year. Ben, I hope you like it.**

**Thanks for reading, everyone!**

**REVIEW! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT?**

* * *

"But I never got my cake…" Ben said, sad.

"Don't worry! I made you a cake!" Aerín said.

"What? Really?" Ben shouted.

"Yeah!" Aerín handed him a covered plate.

"Wow, thanks Aerín," Ben said. He took the cover off.

There was a sign that said in marker: _The cake is a lie!_

Ben stared.

Let's not show his reaction.


	23. Ben and Aerin's epicless quest for cake

**I am very embarrassed to say it…I like overused Internet memes. To name a few…WTF Boom, Shoop Da Whoop, IT'S OVER 9000 (actually, 8000), Falcon Punch, the Lolface, and more. So OF COURSE I had to bring a meme in here. (This also explains Pikachu using Falcon Punch and the Internet Meme chain in Chapter 27.)**

**And guess what it is? Well, if you've played **_**Portal**_**, you'll know. For now, however, just enjoy my characters doing idiotic things while Axel gets epicly pwned!**

**AND REVIEW!**

**(Special thanks to my friend Ben for allowing me to humiliate him.)**

* * *

"_Tsukiren_!" Axel shouted, slashing with his sword and unleashing the wave of silver. But the Lugia just used his wing to cut right through it…and then tried to crush Axel with his head.

"WHOA!" Axel shouted, flying away. It didn't make his day any better that this Lugia was about 5 times larger than a normal one. It could crush him easily. And combine that with his power, and Axel had a long day ahead of him.

"I _could_ ascend…" Axel said. "But who knows _who_ might get hurt in that?" He flapped his wings, and blasted many Getsu Taihos from his wings. The Lugia slashed through them with his wing, and then flapped his own wings, unleashing a storm. Axel flew away, and dark blue lightning bolts crackled around his sword. "_Boruto no Kage_ (Bolt of Shadow)!" Axel shouted.

Many dark blue lightning bolts blasted forward, racing towards Lugia. He tried to dodge, but the bolts followed him. Surprised by the homing attack, Lugia used his claw to rip through the bolts.

"Wait, the heck?" Axel shouted. "Demons are the ultimate users of Shadow! Why am I using Shadow against Shadow?"

Demon Lugia answered by spiraling towards him and trying to slash him with his wing. Axel brought up his own wing and blocked the attack.

_The feathers of my wings vibrate even faster than the blade of my Shikai…_Axel thought with alarm. _They vibrate at 5.1 to 5.3 billion cycles per second. So…how is this Demon's wing holding up against it?_

_Has Cipher found out how to fully tap into the Demon element?_

Demon Lugia opened his mouth, and red energy accumulated at it. Axel grabbed Demon Lugia's wing and threw himself over it, flying far away. He looked at his hand. _I got some of his down on my hands…and the shadow in it is so great it can't be dislodged even by things that vibrate at 3.6 trillion cycles._

Axel was suddenly aware of red light flooding the area behind him. He threw out his arms, and his wings folded in front of him, the attack smashing against them. The red energy soon disappeared, and Axel got ready to attack again. He sliced at Demon Lugia, but was knocked backwards a few meters by his wing.

"Give me a break…" Axel muttered. "Well, I can't lose to you!" He jumped back into battle-no, I mean his epicly getting pwned.

* * *

**THWAM!**

A fist crashed against the wall. "What's that, Luna?" the owner of the fist, a brown haired girl with emerald bracelets shouted. "You used _Demon Lugia_…or rather ISLGA…to attack Axel Nightblazer in the _maintenance tunnel_?"

"Don't talk that way, Gaea," Luna said calmly. Or rather emotionlessly. "We can easily repair the damage. But Nightblazer _must_ be defeated. And this truly gives us a chance to see the capabilities of IS-LGA."

"Well, yeah…" Gaea sighed. "But that's still overreacting a little. And after Kurosaki Ichigo and his friends found this place and wrecked it, we only _just_ finished repairing the lab. Repairing the place all over again is gonna be a real pain. But wait, we could handle him ourselves, right?"

"We could…" Luna sighed. "But try to remember that his brother is here as well, and even after dying, he's still as strong as ever. We should try to prepare to fight Aeron, but Axel isn't the greatest threat."

"Sigh…alright…" Gaea said, looking away. Suddenly, she gasped. "Wait, I have an idea to trap Aeron and his friends!"

"An idea?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow. "But will it work?"

"Oh, will it?" Gaea asked innocently. "Well, just watch me in action. It's going to be _hilarious._"

"As long as it works, okay," Luna said. "In the meantime, I'm going back to my quarters. But Lord Tabuu will want to make contact soon. I will go to the control center in 30 minutes. Be there in that time."

"Well, I gotta go there anyway," Gaea said. "Later, Luna." She walked out, smiling. "I've got the _perfect _thing to lure them in…"

"And that would be?" Luna asked. "What do you have to lure them?"

"Just watch," Gaea said, and the doors closed behind the teenage girl.

Luna looked after her for a while, then sighed. "Sometimes I wonder what goes on in Gaea's mind…but nonetheless, she truly is a credit to us. I'm glad I have her as a comrade." With that, she walked back to her quarters.

* * *

"I do hope Axel's alright," Anabel said. "That Lugia really is wacky. In fact-"

"Don't sweat it, Anabel," Aeron said. "He can take care of himself. To be honest, though…" Aeron looked away. "Ever since I encountered him after coming back to life, I noticed that there was something strange about his reiatsu…Divine energy was in it. I don't know why _he'd_ have it, but…there's no reason to worry about him."

"Oh, right…" Anabel sighed. "Age 21 and I'm still exactly like I was at 14. Is this time immortal thing really worth it?"

"Don't think that way, Anabel," Hanna said. "Some things just lose their charm as you get older. But we who are time immortal," Hanna went on. "We can always view things in the same light, and the sun will always shine and look as beautiful as it did who knows how long ago. So it _is_ worth it, if you think that way."

"The heck?" Sam said. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh," said Anabel. "We were just talking about…"

"Real heroes?" Ben interrupted. "And how Sam's not one?"

"YOU DIE!" Sam shouted, and he ran towards Ben.

"CRAP!" Ben shouted.

**FOOTBALL TACKLE**

'**D!**

"Hey, didn't this happen in reverse?" Aeron said. "Like, Ben was the one who said something about real heroes and Sam was the one who _didn't_ get called a real hero?"

"Ah, who cares?" Aerín said. "What are we supposed to do, anyway?"

A Cipher Peon suddenly dropped from the ceiling. "I'm gonna crush you here and now!" he shouted, and he sent out several (r)ice balls AKA Glalies.

"The heck?" Aeron wondered. "A squad of rice balls? But it's gonna be over quick. Go, Gardevoir!"

The Glalies stared at Gardevoir. _"Oh crap,"_ all of them said in unison.

Gardevoir pulled her fist back, and it began to spark. Dare I say what happens next?

"THUNDER PUNCH!" _"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

**KA-BOOOM!**

All the (r)ice balls were on the ground, defeated. Gardevoir sighed. "It's way too easy," she complained.

"Eep…" the Cipher Peon said. "I RUN AWAY!" And he quickly fled.

"What a moron," Sam said. "Come on, guys, let's-"

"Listen to me for a moment?"

Everyone paused. "What?" Aerín asked. "Who said that?"

"That would be me," a female voice said. "By the way, this is through an intercom, so don't bother looking for me in the immediate area."

"The heck?" Aeron said. "Who are you? A person that is part of Cipher?"

"Um…yeah," the female voice said. "So…there's a computer near you, correct?"

"Yeah," Sam said. "It's right here." He walked over to it, but then a map suddenly popped up of the entire base. One room was flashing red, and another was flashing yellow.

"The one highlighted in red is where you are," they heard. "And I'd like it if you go to the one highlighted in yellow."

"Um…I don't mean to sound rude, but…why that room?" Anabel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"More importantly, why should we go, period?" Aerín asked.

"Yeah, why should we?" Ben said. "It's an obvious trap, you know. Don't try to hide it."

"Fine," they heard. "But…if you do go there, you'll get cake."

*insert record scratch here*

"Cake?" Aerín asked.

"Yes, cake," the Cipher person said. "Or rather, cake with marble frosting and strawberries and-"

"ME WANT CAKE!" Ben shouted. "Wait, with strawberries and what?"

"And peaches and blueberries," the Cipher person said.

"That's gotta be a good cake!" Aerín said. "Come on, let's go!"

"Guys, wait-" Aeron began. But Ben and Aerín didn't listen to him. They dragged everyone else off on their epic(less) quest for cake.

"Fufufu…they actually fell for it," Gaea said, grinning. Suddenly, she heard the doors open.

* * *

"What are you _doing_, Gaea?" Luna asked, walking into the room. "I heard you over the intercom. You're using _cake_ to lure them into a trap? That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"Well, it certainly seems to have worked," Gaea said. "After all, Aeron's currently accompanied by an idiot, and his really naïve 7-year old niece. They sure fell for the bait. It's the _perfect _plan."

"…yeah, okay," Luna said, seriously doubting it would work. "What route do they seem to be taking?"

"Through the _heaviest_ part of security there is in this base," Gaea said, smiling broadly. "This oughta be good. Hey, didn't you say you were going back to your quarters earlier?"

"Well, I was on my way when I heard you," Luna said. "It wasn't exactly a welcome surprise. Do you have any idea how stressful my duties as an Admin are? Besides, then there's the way you act all the time. It adds to my list of things to do: I have to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't do anything stupid."

"Yeah, okay," Gaea said. "Well, do you want to watch them be idiots or not?"

"I think it should be equally stress relieving as taking a rest," Luna said, walking over to the computer and sitting down. She watched from a security camera as Ben and Aerín ran through the hallways, dragging Aeron by the neck. The others raced after them, trying to talk sense into them.

"Pure idiots," Luna said, shaking her head. "It's impossible to figure out what goes through their minds…or if they have minds at all."

"Well, that's what makes them funny," Gaea said. "Just watch. It's gonna be real funny."

* * *

"QUIT DRAGGING ME BY THE NECK GODDANGIT!"

**KA-BLAM!**

"WHAAAGH!" Ben shouted, flying into the wall. "My god, that hurt…hey, why is everything moving up?"

"Because the door is falling in a way that defies physics?" Aerín said.

"Oh yeah," Ben said. "Wait…AW CRAP!"

**THUD!**

The door fell, and Ben got flattened underneath the door. Because it fell on top of him.

"Wonder what's in here?" Hanna wondered, walking into the door.

**BLAAAAARRRGH!**

Hanna was completely blackened. "Cough…so that's what was in there…"

"They always put Lazors in the most random spots," Aeron said. "Wonder why?"

"Let's keep moving," Anabel said, pulling them in. "What in-?"

Inside was a white room. With nothing inside except for a light switch. And there were doorways leading out from the sides, the front and behind them.

"What's wrong?" they heard the girl say. "Why, I believe I could find the exit with my eyes closed! Can you?"

"Let's see…" Hanna began to open her spiritual eyes to see around…and found black. "Eh?"

"By the way, your eyes are closed with our technology," Gaea said. "And perhaps we could make that apply to your physical ones by blindfolding you and having you try to navigate out?"

"No, thank you!" Ben shouted. "I'd prefer not to be blindfolded."

Anabel walked into the next room, which was dark. "Guys, I can't see anything!" she shouted. She reached for the light switch…and was surprised to find none. Instead, she found just the panel it should have been resting on. And some little groove…

Aeron walked in. Suddenly, the lights turned off in the room behind them, and the room they were in had its lights turn on!

"That's odd," Aeron said. He walked into the next one. The lights turned off behind him, and turned on above him.

"So…that's how it is, eh?" Sam said. "We enter a room, and the lights turn on there. Then when we leave the room, they turn off. But…all the rooms look identical. Is this a riddle?"

"It could be…" Anabel said, looking at the arrows that were on the light "switch". There was a green one, a blue one, a red one, and a yellow one. To make matters worse, they were never in the same positions. Anabel could remember that back in the last room, the red one was pointing to the door on the left. Now it was pointing forward! Wait…which way was forward? Anabel was getting confused…

She pounded her fist against the light "switch" in frustration. Was there a way out? Suddenly, she noticed something. There was something odd about the yellow arrow…it was indented inwards!

Anabel looked in the direction of the yellow arrow, the gears in her mind suddenly whirring. _Wait…there's only one that's indented. So if that girl said that she could find the exit with her eyes _closed…

"Guys, I think I know the way!" she shouted. "Come on!"

"What?" Aerín asked. "How did you find it so quickly?"

Anabel walked into the next room, smiling. "I found out the riddle." She traced her finger over the switch, finding that now the red arrow was indented. She walked in that direction.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Ben asked, getting doubtful.

"Uh oh, she solved it!" Gaea said, watching from the cameras.

"Bewildering," Anabel said. "But when you said you could find it with your eyes closed…" Her finger traced over the blue one now, and she turned to find a staircase. "You defeated the purpose of searching. You gave us the answer there and then. And I exploited it. Is this just to test our mind?"

"Well, maybe," Gaea said. "But…just go onto the next room."

Anabel opened the door at the top of the staircase…and was shocked when she found Cipher Peons waiting with a bunch of swords. "An ambush?"

"Uh…when did they get there?" Gaea asked Luna.

Luna shrugged. "I told them to go there just now. Why?"

"That wasn't what I thought would happen," Gaea said.

Anabel jumped back to avoid a Cipher Peon's attack. _I have no way to defend myself except my wits…this is not good._

Suddenly, Hanna stepped up, unsheathing her sword. "I'll handle this, Anabel."

"Hanna!" Anabel said. "But are you sure it'll work out?"

"It'll be just fine," Hanna said, twirling her sword through the air. "Pierce the silence with your song…_Eteru no Uta _(Ether's Song)!"

Hanna's blade dissolved in blue light, and Sam could swear he heard singing. Then there was a blue flash, and Hanna had a sword hilt in her hand. She raised it, and then a shining blade of energy emitted from it.

"It's a lightsaber!" Ben said. "Or at least, something like one."

"Now," Hanna said, raising the sword. "Let the melody play. And begin…the Wild Dance."

A Cipher Peon attacked, and Hanna pulled her head back and dodged the stroke. Her foot whipped up as she somersaulted through the air, kicking her opponent in the chin. Another Cipher Peon began striking, but Hanna easily parried his attacks. Then her blade looped around, and she knocked his sword out of his hands.

_Her fighting style…_Sam thought. _It's like a crazy dance. She must be skilled with this so she doesn't cut off an arm._

Hanna's foot struck against the blade of another Cipher Peon, and she knocked it aside, rotating in midair…her other foot smashed against the face of the Cipher Peon, kicking him to the side. She placed a hand on the ground and sprang off, and then suddenly her blade elongated and she flicked her wrist, and the blade spiraled out, smashing into the Cipher Peons. She landed and raised her sword, and the now rope like blade shortened and sprang back into its straight shape.

One Cipher Peon suddenly jumped at her from behind. Hanna didn't even look at him.

Then suddenly, there was a massive blast of sound. And the Cipher Peon fell, unconscious.

"What was that?" Ben asked. "Was that a sonic boom?"

"I don't know how to answer that in dummy terms," Hanna said, her sword flashing blue. Now it was only a normal katana. "And if I tried to explain it, it would tear your brains apart."

"ARE YOU CALLING ME AN IDIOT?" Ben shouted.

"No, I'm calling you a retard," Hanna said calmly.

"YOU DIE!" Ben shouted, running towards Hanna.

Hanna didn't even appear to move, and then suddenly Ben was flipped over in midair and smashed into the ground.

"Now…shall we continue?" Hanna asked, walking away.

"Whoa…" Sam said.

"Sometimes, the scariest girls are the ones who don't try to be," Aeron said. "No, make that all the time."

"Right…" Sam said, stepping over Ben's corpse. (Kidding! He's still alive…or IS HE? XD)

"Now what do we have to do?" Aerín asked, walking into another room with a bunch of puzzle blocks around.

"You really had to put such a…well…ineffective security system, didn't you?" Luna said skeptically.

"Why not?" Gaea asked, grinning. "This is going to be great. Okay, you basically have to just push the blocks into those holes in the ground, but there are ridges that block their path at times."

"Okay, this should be easy!" Ben said, pushing the puzzle blocks around. "I'm GREAT at puzzles!"

* * *

_30 seconds later…_

"NOO!" Ben shouted, trapped in the corner like an idiot. No, wait, he was one.

"Idiot," Aeron said. "This is how you do it." He began to walk forward...

Hanna's foot whipped up.

_Trip._

"AAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

**BLAM!**

"Ow…" Aeron groaned.

"The egotistical Aeron Solo has fallen!" Hanna said mischievously.

"What was that for?" Aeron asked, getting up.

"For no apparent reason," Hanna said. "Other than to dissolve any egotism you may get."

"Sheesh…" Aeron muttered, pushing a block. "It's not that hard, you know." He shoved it, and it fell into a hole. There was a _click_, and then some lights on the block that no one noticed went green.

"Easy," Aeron said, and he went to move the other blocks around.

* * *

_30 seconds later…_

Aeron shoved the last one in and it turned green. The lights above the door turned green, and the door slid open.

"Easy," Aeron said.

"SHADDAP," Ben said, furious he got trapped in a corner when all he did was PUSH the blocks.

(That's an Epic Fail: how do you get trapped in the corner when you PUSH blocks? There's no logic to it. Which is why it's an _Epic_ Fail.)

"What now?" Aerín asked, walking into the next room. There were a bunch of floating platforms with red lights on them.

"I am _never_ letting you design security again," Luna said.

"But I took DDP (Design/Drawing Production) in high school!" Gaea whined.

"Yeah," Luna said. "And you make everything puzzles, not stuff meant to keep people out."

"Maybe we have to land on all the platforms," Aerín said, jumping up and landing on one. The light glowed blue.

"Within 30 seconds," Gaea called.

"Uh…right!" Aerín said, landing on another one.

Suddenly, all lights flashed orange. "What the heck?" Ben asked.

Immediately, they all got lasers blasted at them from above. The platforms, I mean.

Aerín was fried. "Cough…" She made a fast recovery and jumped away. "That sucked."

"Oh, and you have to land on them in a certain order," Gaea said. "Can you figure it out?"

"It's gonna be easy!" Ben shouted, and he began ricocheting off random platforms.

All the wrong ones in the wrong order. And now all the lights were orange.

"You…idiot…" Sam said slowly.

"WHAT THE FU-"

**BOOOOOOOMM!**

Everyone was fried. "Cough…"

"We definitely can't trust Ben here," Aeron said, making a fast recovery. "So I'll do it myself!"

Aeron ran up and jumped onto a platform. Then he noticed a green light flash on another. _That's the one!_

Aeron took a flying leap and landed on that one, and now it glowed with a soft blue light. Another one went green, and Aeron launched himself at it. Soon, all of the lights were blue.

"There we go!" Aeron said. The lights glowed yellow, and the door opened.

"Congratulations!" they heard Gaea say. "Now just go into that door, and you'll find your cake."

"Yay!" Aerín said, and she ran in. "We get cake!"

"Me want cake!" Ben shouted, running after her and dragging the rest by their necks. "Hey, why's it so dark?"

**SLAM!**

The door suddenly slammed shut behind them.

"Ah!" Anabel cried. "No! Now we're trapped in!"

"Great," Sam said. "I knew it was a trap." He smashed Ben (who was screaming "WHERE'S MY CAKE?") in the face.

"The real thing that stinks is that we got trapped in here for nothing," Hanna said.

"What do you mean?" Aerín asked. "Where's the cake?"

"Aerín…we've been tricked," Aeron said. "The cake is a lie."

* * *

**Random Bonus Story…XD**

Place: Ice Princess Rinna's world (Ice Princess Rinna is another Fanfiction user who does Strike Witches stuff, which is M rated, so I wouldn't recommend Googling it.)

Rinna Skyweilder Wilcke and Eila Illmatar Juutinen were locked in combat in the air, shooting at each other.

"Your moves are way too predictable," Eila said breezily, dodging another bullet.

"Just you watch this!" Rinna shouted. Flames began to generate around her. "Burn Bullet!"

Rinna blasted towards Eila, flames dancing around her. Eila dodged. "Easy," she said.

Then she noticed: Sanya V. Litvyak was flying back towards their base, tired after staying up all night on night duty.

"Yawn…eh?" Sanya wondered, glancing in Eila's direction.

"_Shiwata_!" Eila shouted, realizing where her flight path would take her.

**CRASH!**

Eila crashed into Sanya, sending the two flying into the hangar and plowing through Minna and Erica's Strikers (flight devices worn on the legs). "UWAH!" Eila shouted, her head crashing into a weapons rack and causing it to fall on another set of Strikers.

"Oh, no-" Part of the rack landed on Eila, and her hand smashed into Sanya's face, causing Sanya to accidentally pull the trigger on her Fliegerhammer (a rocket launcher).

Rockets launched at the beams above…

**WE ARE EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES. PLEASE STAND BY.**

* * *

"Whooaaaa…" Rinna said, looking into the hangar.

Everything was wrecked. And a certain brown haired Siscon was entering at that point…

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF TOTALLY JERK GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IS GOING ON HERE?" Gertrude Barkhorn (more commonly known as Trude) shouted.

"Uh…nothing!" Rinna said. But it didn't take too long for Trude to figure out something.

"RINNA SKYWIELDER WILCKE! LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!" Trude shouted. "YOU HAVE CAUSED…oh, dare I say it…CONFUSION AND DELAY!...And other things that will cause us to look bad in the eyes of the higher ups and cause them to lower our budget, which means our pay and supplies will be cut AGAIN! So…I'm going to have to report this to Minna (Rinna's sister)."

"ACK!" Rinna shouted. "NO NO NO! DON'T TELL MINNA! IF SHE FINDS OUT I US-AH!" She noticed Hanna nearby, narrowing her eyes. "N-never mind!"

"Continue what you were saying, Rinna Skywielder Wilcke," Hanna said, smiling sweetly…which made her look even creepier.

"Eep…" Rinna suddenly went chibi from the side effects of Burn Bullet. "I RUN AWAY!"

Suddenly, Hanna's hand moved, and Rinna was suddenly smashed down by a wall of sound. And then four other walls of sound appeared around her.

"Now, what were you saying, Rinna?" Hanna asked. "And say it loud, I won't be able to hear over the sound."

"ALL RIGHT ALL RIGHT ALL RIGHT I USED BURN BULLET AND CAUSED EILA TO CRASH INTO SANYA AND THEM TO SMASH INTO THE HANGAR AND DESTROY ALL THE STRIKERS! PLEASE DON'T TELL MINNA EVEN THOUGH EILA AND SANYA ARE H-" Rinna realized she said the wrong thing.

"Wait…Sanya's hurt?" Trude asked, stopping short.

**SISCON MODE**

**ACTIVATE!**

"Uh…yeah," Rinna said, shaking in terror, knowing full well of the carnage to come.

"What?" Trude asked, not able to hear over the sound.

"I said yeah!" Rinna said louder.

"WHAT?" Trude shouted, still unable to hear.

"YES, SANYA'S HURT!" Rinna shouted. Then she realized she never should have stated this.

"S-Sanya! Are you alright?" Trude shouted, running over to Sanya's side.

"Oh...that hurt..." Sanya groaned.

"Um...hey! I'm right here, too!" Eila shouted from a massive pile of rubble. (But Trude ignored her.)

"Don't worry," Hanna said. "I'll see to it that she's alright.

"Okay," Trude said. "That's it. If Sanya's hurt…then I WILL tell Minna. There's no other choice. Oh yes, and thanks, Hanna." And she walked away.

"Crap…" Rinna said, remembering that now she was trapped in a cage of sound. "I'm doomed…"

* * *

Ben was sitting around when he saw Trude entering with a stormy look on her face. "Oh, hey, Trude, how's it going?"

"Ben, I need to use the phone," Trude said.

"Uh…sure, but why?" Ben asked.

"Look, just give me the god (explicative removed) phone!" Trude shouted, pretty annoyed. She grabbed the phone and dialed.

"What's going on?" Ben asked. "Why are you like this all of a sudden?"

Trude didn't respond. She just listened and heard a computerized voice say: _"Hello. Welcome to the Brittanian Emergency Hotline."_

"Ah, yes, um," Trude said. "I would like to place a call to Minna Dietlinde Wilcke…"

"_Your call is very important to us and will be answered when we feel like it."_

*insert record scratch here*

Trude and Ben stared in shock at the phone as it continued: _"If you have an extension number, please enter it now."_

"What the-?" Trude stared. "Since when did the Emergency Hotline suddenly get so complicated?"

"And more importantly, since when did it get more confusing than it already was?" Ben wondered.

"_For a fire emergency, press 1. For a Striker breakdown, press 2. For a really good Brittanian cake recipe, press 99."_

"ME WANT CAKE!" Ben immediately shouted.

Trude smashed him in the face, growling. "This is the most convenient time Minna could have been at a meeting," she said sarcastically.

"_If you haven't figured it out by now, you never will."_

* * *

_3 hours later…_

"_To place a call to Minna Dietlinde Wilcke-"_

Trude and Ben looked at the phone.

"_-please hang up and dial 555-0111. Thank you. *click*"_

Ben grabbed the phone. "IS THIS SOME NEW TRICK, GLA-DOS?" he shouted into the phone. (Gla-DOS is a character from _Portal_.)

Trude seethed in anger.

"Uh…Trude? Why do you look evil?" Ben asked.

"ARRGGGH!" Trude shouted in frustration. "THIS IS MORE FRUSTRATING THAN THAT TIME I TRIED TO BECOME A TRUCK DRIVER!"

* * *

_Flashback-_

_**VROOM! SCREEEECH!**_

_A military truck spun out of the road._

_**CRASH!**_

_Trude, Minna, and their friend Erica Hartmann were lying in a heap of scrap metal. All of them had at least two broken bones._

"Itai _(ow)_…_" Erica groaned._

"_Trude, would you mind telling me where you got your (explicative removed) license?" Minna asked, thoroughly angry._

"_Minna, I told you 500,000,001 times! I'm (explicative removed) classified!" Trude shouted._

"_Right, right," Minna said. "By the way, as of now, you're prohibited from driving ever again."_

"_T_T…"_

* * *

**O…k…that was a very interesting flashback. Yes, I watched Strike Witches and enjoyed it (when they weren't trying to do fanservice). And thanks to Ice Princess Rinna for letting me use her characters.**

**Well, looks like everyone's in a pickle now! But it'll turn out better for them in the next chapter! I hope you enjoyed the epic(less) quest for cake.**

**AND REVIEW!**


	24. Nightfall, no, I mean, rise

**Things don't seem to be going very well in the lab, huh? Aeron and co. are now trapped, and do we even need to say what happens to Axel?**

**Considering he's the star of this chapter, probably not. Well, Axel will go from being the pwned to the pwnzor now, so sit back and enjoy!**

**AND REVIEW!**

* * *

"Home run attack!" Aerín shouted, swinging a bat. It whacked against the door and broke. "Oh…"

"Let me do it!" Sam shouted, thumbing the button on his Pokédex and turning the icy gauntlet into energy which flowed into said device.

An image of a powerful being flared into life, howling at the moon. It's form wavered and dissolved into the kanji for ice, which was blazed straight onto Sam's Pokedex Ultra. Sam pulled it back, and then whirled his other hand up, which now had a sphere of pale blue energy blazing in it. Sam extended both hands outwards, and then swung them around, slamming the two together in an epic way.

"Come forth, my friend!" he shouted. "Ice Elemental Resurrection!" He pulled the two apart, enveloping himself in a blizzard.

Inside the blizzard, Sam fell down on all fours, and his body began to warp. It changed into a wolf's body, and the blizzard cleared to reveal…well…a wolf. He had fur as white as you could ever get, though it had a silvery sheen to it. Streaks of fur running down his spine, on the backs of his legs, on his belly, and along the top of his tail were an icy blue. He had a silvery-white headcrest bearing resemblance to part of a snowflake, and his irises were glowing a pale blue against his white irises and fur.

The wolf bounded down, landing on a platform with the kanji for _ice_ emblazoned on it. He howled, and a storm of icicles shot up around him. "Lone Wolf Arcticryo!"

"All right!" Aerín said. "Now we have a good chance of getting out!"

"Let's do this!" Sam shouted, flying towards the door, icy energy surrounding him.

**WHAM!**

Everyone gaped. The door stood as if nothing had happened.

Sam struck the door again and again, frustrated. "No matter what we do, it won't budge! I'm even using my ice power, and it still won't work!"

Aeron tried to lift it for the fifth time. "We can't do anything from here…it seems Cipher's gotten us this time."

"Mmmf!"

"Wha…what was that?" Anabel asked. "Who sounds like they're trying to scream through cloth?"

"Mmm mmm mmmf!"

"It's coming from here…" Hanna said, walking further into the darkness. No one could see anything.

**BUMP!**

"What the-?" Hanna wondered, bumping into something. "This is…"

"Mmmf!"

"Guys! There's someone tied up here!"

"Huh?" Aeron said. "Who?"

"I can't tell!" Hanna said. "It's too dark!"

The others ran over to where Hanna was. Aeron held up his hand, and then light energy gathered at his hand. He held it up to see…

"Mmmf!" cried…Cynthia? She was tied to a chair at this point in time.

"Cynthia!" Ben said. "What are you doing here?" He untied the cloth over her mouth. "Did you let Cipher do this to you?"

"Wha-who's there?" Cynthia asked, for they also blinded her. "Is that you, Ben?"

"Yeah, it's me!" Ben said, taking the cloth off of her eyes. "You all right?"

"Just fine," Cynthia said. "Um…could you untie me? This is really tight…"

"Right," Ben said.

"No, let me," Sam said. He howled, and then suddenly all of Cynthia's bonds froze over and shattered.

"Ah…" Cynthia stared at him. "Is that…"

"A Pokémon?" Aeron said. "Yes, he is. But not one you've seen before, I'm sure."

"Not seen, no," Cynthia said, massaging the rope marks on her hands. "But I've read several times about it…that's the Elemental Pokémon of Ice, Articryo, isn't it?"

"Uh…yeah, why?" Sam said. "What, am I in a book?"

"Yes," Cynthia said. "I read about the Elementals in the ancient texts…"

"ANYWAY," Anabel said, getting their attention. "I don't think even I could break through this door, even if I could use my true power…and I can't at this time."

"What can you do?" Sam said, getting cocky. "You're just a human! I'm the one who should be saying that."

Anabel looked at him coldly. "There are things you can't see through the haze of the hot air you breath out, Sam…considering you're the Elemental of Ice."

Sam stopped short. _Wait…is she saying that…_

"There's _got_ to be a way out," Aerín said. "Maybe we could use A-"

"We'll find a way out," Aeron said. "Eventually…"

* * *

Meanwhile, a certain someone else was having problems.

Axel flew through the tunnel at alarming speed. But he knew "alarming" wasn't enough to get away from his opponent.

Demon Lugia flew around the corner, and then opened his mouth, gathering red energy.

"This can't continue this way," Axel said grimly. "I'll just have to use _that_!" He whipped around, and silver energy began to accumulate around two of his fingers.

But the demon was aware of what was happening and threw himself into a barrel roll, immediately after blasting a massive storm of red gales that smashed into Axel, knocking him back.

But there was only a sphere of silver where the Shinigami had been standing. Then suddenly, it unfolded to reveal Axel.

Axel looked at his wings. "I'm thankful my wings vibrate," he said. "That way, they can dispel attacks that hit them easily. That's what makes it so effective as a shield." He flew forward, flapping his wings. Bolts of lunar energy blasted from his wings as he flapped, flying in the form of feathers and smashing into the demon.

Thing is, his opponent was way too resilient for that. Lugia roared and blasted a second red gale at the Shinigami, forcing him to flee again. His target raised two fingers, silver coming to them again…

Demon Lugia roared once more and flew forward, shadow armoring him. He rammed hard into Axel, knocking him back and dispelling the energy around his fingers yet again.

Axel recovered from the blow, then turned around, flew up close and began to try and slice at Demon Lugia with his katana. Demon Lugia responded by slicing with his own wings, and they began a massive clashdown.

"You're _really_ not giving me an easy time," Axel said. "Perhaps I should take a different approach." He flapped his wings, and began flying around wildly, doing random whatever.

Demon Lugia roared and blasted more dark gales at Axel.

"Whoa!" Axel shouted, flying out of the way. "I know! I'll try spinning! That's a good trick."

Right, right, understood…genius. (sarcastic tone) And it is so effective, that it TOTALLY DIDN'T WORK! Demon Lugia launched many blasts of shadow, which miraculously all managed to hit Axel.

"Ow," Axel said. "Um…so…heh heh…have you ever heard of Nightblazer Secret Strategy #3?"

…

"Okay, how about Solo Strategy #2?" Axel asked.

…

"Okay, I can take a hint," Axel said. "That means you don't know about Bladesinger Strategy#5. Right?"

…

"Aw, forget it," Axel sighed and then just resorted to normal dodging tactics.

**ZZZZZZZZT!**

"Wait, what the (explicative removed)!" Axel shouted as some thunderbolt crashed headlong into Demon Lugia.

_Direct hit!_ Latias shouted-no, THOUGHT (she uses telepathy) as she flew towards Axel with Pikachu in tow.

"Yeah!" Pikachu shouted triumphantly, proud of his Thunderbolt. "That should have taken him out…"

Demon Lugia emerged…with only a couple minor scratches. And a lot of anger.

"IT DIDN'T WORK!" Pikachu and Latias shouted-well, Latias THOUGHT. "NOOOOOOOO!"

"…that was a dramatic scene," Axel said sarcastically. "So, what the heck are you guys doing here?"

"We came to help you!" Pikachu shouted.

_Yeah…I think we all need help here,_ Latias said-no, telepathized, as the psycho Lugia got up. _Good advice of the day: Watch out._

The three quickly fled as Demon Lugia launched a blast of shadowy gales at them. "We can't continue on like this," Axel said grimly. "If this continues, I'll run out of energy and my _Bankai_ will disappear."

"Then why don't you do limit-" Pikachu began.

"Out of the question," Axel said. "Please try to remember how powerful I am. If I do that, people will get crushed from my _reiatsu_. There has to be a better way."

_And if there isn't?_ Latias asked, diving out of the way of Demon Lugia's Shadow Storm.

"Then I have no choice," Axel said, leveling his sword and allowing it to glow blue outlined with silver. "I just hope it doesn't come to that!"

"So, what's the plan?" Pikachu asked. "If my Thunderbolt didn't work, maybe-"

_I'll use my Ice Beam!_ Latias declared telepathically, flinging her "arms" out and gathering icy energy.

"Latias, no, stop!" Axel shouted.

Latias fired the beam, and it rapidly froze over, striking Demon Lugia and spiking ice outward. But he just broke out and resumed his attack.

"Latias," Pikachu said, annoyed. "My Thunderbolt didn't work on him, and it was supposed to be super effective. Your Ice Beam probably won't have much better effect."

_Oh, stop it!_ Latias thought. _You know I'm stronger with these kinds of attacks!_

"WHAT?" Pikachu shouted, now thoroughly ticked off. "I HAVE A LIGHT BALL, MIND YOU!"

This was all Axel heard for the next few seconds: _WELL I HAVE A SOUL DEW, AND THOSE BOOST MY POWER A LOT MORE THAN YOUR LIGHT BALL! _"THAT JUST MEANS YOU CAN CHEAT IF YOU HAVE YOUR SOUL DEW!" _WHAT? _"WHAT!"

The two began brawling, with Pikachu trying to smash Latias in the face with his tail, and Latias blasting Psybeams at point blank at him.

And Axel was rapidly losing patience. Finally, he hit rock bottom.

His foot slammed on the ground. "SHUT UP!"

Latias, Pikachu, and even LUGIA froze, mouths gaping wide open. "Good," Axel said as a red light began to shine on him. "I'm glad we understand each other-wait, what's that light?"

Latias and Pikachu quickly bolted. Axel turned to see Demon Lugia swirling gales in front of his mouth, ready to fire them in a concentrated sphere…

"Oh (explicative removed)," Axel said.

**KA-BOOM!**

A massive explosion of wind rocked the tunnel. Latias and Pikachu were pitched into the air, shook hard, and given a very rough landing.

"What the heck was that?" Pikachu shouted, getting up. "That was Shadow enhanced…"

_It was Aeroblast,_ Latias told him. _I've seen, oh, and felt it before, and although the energy is different, the pattern is the same._

"Wait, so Axel got Aeroblasted?" Pikachu shouted. "That means-"

"DUDE! I'M OVER HERE, FOOL!" they suddenly heard Axel shout.

Lugia roared and rammed the wall, but Axel dove out of the way, and then flew down the tunnel, obviously getting a (bad) idea. The Lugia followed him, still roaring.

"Should we follow?" Pikachu asked. He had a bad feeling about the answer, and their fate.

_Obviously, _Latias replied, tucking her arms in for faster flight.

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that," Pikachu muttered.

* * *

_And on the other side of the base…_

"AAAAAH!" Everyone was sent flying in random directions around the room from the explosions from Axel's fight.

Ignoring it altogether, Aeron went through the shaking room up to the door, now knowing a way to get out.

"It's time to get out of here," he said. Green wind flew to his blade, charging it with a hurricane's force…

"_Reppuzan_ (slaying gale)!" Aeron shouted.

* * *

_From outside…_

Two Cipher Peons were walking outside the door.

**KA-BOOM!**

The door suddenly went flying off its hinges, striking the Cipher Peons and sending them flying. Aeron and Sam rushed out and froze them, leaving them stuck to the floor.

"Direct hit!" Aerín shouted, jumping out and landing on one's face.

"Is it really okay to do that…?" Anabel said, sweatdropping and looking at the owned Cipher Peons.

"They tied me up and left me in there," Cynthia replied. "I don't have qualms about it."

"We need to keep moving," Hanna said. "I have a feeling we're going to be facing…someone who is really powerful soon."

"A boss?" Aerín asked.

"Something like that," Hanna said, leading the others away.

"Well, we should be able to take it out," Sam said. "After all, I _am_ a real hero."

"HAAAAA~" Ben shouted, jumping at Sam with swords which I neglected to mention he had. Then he suddenly stopped in midair and said: "Two things: One, have you gone to college? Two, have you been raised by your family your whole life? Y'see, I was raised by wolves until my family found me. And that was like, five years of my life. So, yeah. Imma firin mah lazor blaarg," Ben said lazily.

A tiny beam shot out. Sam looked at it. "Uh…what?"

It touched him.

**BOOOOOOOM!**

Everyone was fried in the explosion. Except Ben. "Cough…"

"Yes, the power of my tiny laser. Even if you put your hand in the way, it'll just move out of the way of the barrier and well, pretty much kill you. Yay." *double peace signs* "Okay, come on, let's go," Ben said.

* * *

"Hey, you can't do that to my Cipher Peons!" Gaea shouted, seeing the chaos on the screen. "Only _I_ can!"

"Gaea," Luna said. "You forgot to turn on the intercom."

"Aw," Gaea complained. "So…shouldn't we be contacting Lord Tabuu now?"

"Handling it," Luna said calmly.

* * *

Toshiro gritted his teeth upon hearing the shouting behind him increase in proximity and ran faster. _It would be nice if I were 42 cm taller,_ he thought.

"It's bad enough they got their hands on _Bakkoto_ (Fused Tapir Sword)," Izuru said grimly, remembering the events of the Kasumi-Ooji clan's conspiracy that happened a while ago. "But somehow they got the _Bakkoto_ to feed on ambient energy, and not consume the wielders themselves…"

"What's a _Bakkoto_?" Momo asked, for she had been recovering from injuries during the whole thing.

"Save your questions! Just keep running!" Uryu shouted, frustrated that they took away his means of fighting by absorbing all the reishi in the area. "If they catch up to us, we're goners!"

"Are you sure we aren't already?" Kon asked, dodging a sword swipe.

"Wow, you're optimistic," Volkner said sarcastically. "If only we could-"

"BLOW THEM UP!" one Cipher Peon shouted, lunging. Toshiro ducked the attack, then shot his foot out, tripping the Cipher Peon. He jumped away as the rest of them tripped and piled up on that one.

"I bought us some time," Toshiro told the others. "So we sprint across the bridge and then destroy it while they're getting back up!"

"What bridge?" Chad asked, still quite shocked the Cipher Peons had been able to get past his arm.

"That one," Toshiro replied, pointing. There was a bridge ahead of them, going over some tunnel.

"What's the point of having a bridge here, anyway?" Orihime asked as they ran across. At this point, the Cipher Peons were getting up.

"I don't know!" Uryu shouted. "Let's get over this thing fast so…wait, what?"

There was a roaring…and then they saw Axel flying straight towards the bridge. Followed by a massive Lugia that was black and red instead of white and blue.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?" Kon shouted.

"It's something that means we had better get out of here fast," Uryu said calmly.

Immediately, everyone ran off the bridge, screaming. Seeing everyone on there, Axel threw himself into a short dive to avoid the bridge. And Demon Lugia plowed through it.

**KRASH!**

Glass and metal went flying everywhere. Momo screamed, Izuru shouted. And when it was over, debris was everywhere. The bridge was TOTALLY destroyed, and neither Axel nor the Lugia were in sight anymore.

"What was that…?" Momo breathed, getting back up.

Their adversaries, the Cipher Peons, were also shocked-but for a different reason. "That was IS-LGA!" one shouted. "What the heck is going on?"

"IS-LGA?" Orihime asked. "What's that?"

"Heh! Like we're gonna tell you about our Shadow Pokémon which we corrupted so much it's a Demon!" one Cipher Peon laughed smugly. Then he realized. "Oh, wait-"

"You just told us," Uryu said.

"YOU IDIOT!" The Cipher Peons started freaking out on the one who had said all that.

Momo suddenly looked around, alarmed. "Wait…where's Toshiro?"

The others then noticed: Toshiro was missing. They shouted his name, but he didn't respond.

"Where could he have gone?" Izuru asked. "Could he really fall so easily?"

"N-no…" Momo began to break down. "T-toshiro…"

"IT'S CAPTAIN HITSUGAYA!"

*insert record scratch here*

A hand grabbed onto the edge of the platform, and then Toshiro threw himself back onto the platform.

"T-toshiro!" Momo shouted. "You're alright-"

"Not really," Toshiro said, holding up his arm to reveal several long cuts. "I was too close to him, so I got injured by his shadow power. But it wasn't anything serious."

"We should get going," Uryu said. "Who knows what will happen next?"

* * *

Axel flew through the tunnel at high speed, throwing himself into short dives to avoid random obstacles-pipes, cables, bridges. And he wished he were faster at the time, because Demon Lugia didn't need to worry. He just barreled through everything.

"If I can't defeat him soon, this place is gonna get wrecked," Axel muttered. "Which is bad, because the others are still here." He saw another bridge and then flew underneath, allowing Demon Lugia to smash it. Then Axel blasted the ceiling with his feathers, causing debris to rain down on Demon Lugia. It was more an annoyance than anything, though.

_Ice Beam!_ Latias shouted telepathically, blasting Demon Lugia with another icy beam. That didn't work.

"Thunder!" Pikachu shouted, blasting a massive lightning bolt upwards. Then another one came down hard on Demon Lugia, shocking him. That didn't work either.

"I think there's only one way to solve this," Axel said, his hand going to his chest. "By doing _that_."

"You said you wouldn't do it!" Pikachu shouted, shocked. (Funny, he shocks people himself.)

Axel didn't reply. He just allowed his silver and blue reiatsu to fill the air, and then in the air, a silver Lily of the Valley appeared-the symbol for 5th Company in the _Gotei 13_. This was followed by a crecent moon appearing, encompassing it.

"_Gentei Kaijo_ (Limiter Removal)!" Axel shouted. And then his reiatsu intensified, and his wings became even brighter.

_Limiter one removed…_ Latias thought, awed.

Axel flew towards Lugia, beginning to shroud himself in silver. Demon Lugia roared and prepared a dark Aeroblast.

But now blue energy crackled out violently in lightning bolts, and Axel began to spin, moving faster, until he was merely an oval of silver.

"What the-" Pikachu began. Demon Lugia fired.

"_WANGETSU NO SHINDEN_ (Crescent's Magnificent Lightning)!" Axel shouted, and before anyone could see anything, there was a massive silver line, which faded to show Axel at the end. Blue lightning bolts exploded, and everything was decimated. Demon Lugia fell, badly injured. However, he took to the air, and began to prepare another Aeroblast.

"And now I will end this," Axel said. "By FIRIN MAH LAZOR BLAAAAARGH!" He blasted a massive blue laser at the sky, and it disappeared into the night.

"YOU IDIOT!" Pikachu shouted. "YOU MISSED! NOW WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

"Pikachu," Axel said. "I didn't miss."

"Huh?" Pikachu asked as the moon winked out, then went FULL and a silver laser with blue lines arcing through it blasted down from the moon.

**ZZZZZZZZZT!**

_It's an Epic Win!_

It crashed into Demon Lugia, smashing him into the ground. But now there was going to be a massive explosion…

_I think it's a good idea to teleport out,_ Latias said.

"Sound advice," Axel said. Latias touched Axel and Pikachu, and they glowed purple and then there was a flash, and then they were gone.

And then the whole thing exploded.

* * *

"WAAAAAAAAH~" Axel shouted. "WHY DID YOU HAVE TO TELEPORT US IN MIDAIR?"

_I DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO SET WHERE WE'D END UP!_ Latias protested.

"LET'S JUST FOCUS ON LANDING SAFELY!" Pikachu shouted.

Axel sighed and grabbed both of them, and his wings flapped, allowing them to gently land. Then the wings dissolved in a shower of feathers, and Axel's swords glowed silver and merged into one.

"That was exhausting," Axel said. "Let's just stay here for the time being."

_Hopefully Chikorita and the others are alright,_ Latias thought.

* * *

**Random Bonus Story…XD**

Picking off of the previous one…After a few hours of bad telephone usage (glares at Trude), Minna came on scene to see what happened to the hanger.

"I'm screwed now," Rinna whimpered, although that couldn't be heard over the cage of solid sound Hanna trapped her in.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF TREVOR MALONEY IS GOING ON HERE?" Minna shouted, utterly shocked.

"Well, I was having a duel with Rinna," Eila said, getting helped up by Hanna, "and then she used Burn Bullet, but while I dodged I accidentally crashed into Sanya, and she was too tired to dodge, and then we crashed into the hangar and broke all the Strikers."

"I accidentally pulled the trigger on the Fliegerhammer," Sanya said sheepishly.

"It's alright, sorry I hit you in the face," Eila said. "Are you badly hurt?"

"Y-yeah…" Trude said, helping Sanya up (Siscon mode is still on), "Are you alright, Sanya?"

"I-I'm just fine…" Sanya said. "But I hurt all over…"

"Let's call Miyafuji over," Minna said. "In the meantime, Hanna, please let Rinna out of your cage of sound."

"Right," Hanna said, and she snapped her fingers. The sound ended, but Rinna's ears were still ringing.

"Rinna Skyweilder Wilcke!" Minna said, going to her commander mode.

"Um…yeah, Onee-chan (big sister)?" Rinna asked, shakily getting up. (And still Chibi, so her voice was ridiculously high.)

"Good job!" Minna praised, smiling. No one bothered to notice it was 2:00 PM, and the sky was dark with the moon and the stars shining down.

"Wh-what?" Rinna shouted. "You're not gonna punish me?"

"Nope," Minna said. "So, here's your reward."

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Eila shouted. "SHE'S GETTING REWARDED FOR CAUSING A MASSIVE ACCIDENT?"

"Actually, you were the one who made it happen," Ben said.

"SHUT UP!" Eila shouted, and her wounds opened up because of the shouting.

"So…what's the reward?" Rinna asked, not noticing a silver circle appear around her.

That's when they heard it. "IMMA FIRIN MAH LAZOR BLAAAAAARRRGGHH!"

They looked up to see Axel flying away as a massive column of silver with blue lines running down it heading towards the silver circle…

"Oh, crap," Rinna said.

**ZZZZZZZZZZT!**

_It's an Epic Win!_

* * *

**And now Axel's part in the little Cipher Research Wing section of the story is at an end! You'll have to put up with lots of Aeron awesomeness now!**

**Ice Princess Rinna and I, well, at this point, her characters will be appearing in all of my stories every now and then, so don't be surprised when Rinna shows up. (Thanks, Ice Princess Rinna! =D You're awesome!)**

**Okay, a lot of you guys aren't listening. So I'm gonna have to go at this a bit differently…**

**PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER OR I WILL GET MY BAT OUT.  
PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER OR I WILL GET MY BAT OUT.  
PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER OR I WILL GET MY BAT OUT.  
PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER OR I WILL GET MY BAT OUT.  
PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER OR I WILL GET MY BAT OUT.  
PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER OR I WILL GET MY BAT OUT.  
PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER OR I WILL GET MY BAT OUT.  
PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER OR I WILL GET MY BAT OUT.  
PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER OR I WILL GET MY BAT OUT.  
PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER OR I WILL GET MY BAT OUT.**

**There, that should do it. =D**

**And that also takes care of the guys who forget I've turned on the anonymous review (you can review even if you don't have a Fanfiction account.)**


	25. Ben Believes he can Fly

**I believe I can fly-(falls)**

**SMACK!**

…

_Hi, it's Aeron Solo (Axel's brother) here. Axel was trying to jump off something high and fly over the rainbow, but he ended up falling and dying. When I reincarnate him, I'll let you know. In the meantime, just enjoy this chapter._

_PS: My brother's friend Ben, who a character is based on, is a serious One Piece fan. And he insisted that Axel put in some One Piece elements. But please don't report us for having more than one theme._

* * *

"I think we should go this way," Aeron said, pointing. "When taking forks, you should always take right."

"And why's that?" Hanna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because in all my life, whenever I went on a left fork, something terrible has happened to me," Aeron replied, walking down the designated path. "So, you should always take right."

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

"DARN IT!" Gaea shouted, throwing a childlike tantrum. "ALL THE TRAPS WERE ON THE LEFT PATH!"

"Next time, _I_ develop the security system," Luna said. "You made it too unbalanced."

"But all the important stuff was on the left path!" Gaea protested.

"Well, you still should have put some traps on the right," Luna replied. "I guess we may have to take matters into our own hands. But first, we contact Lord Tabuu."

* * *

"I have a bad feeling about this," Anabel said quietly, walking after Aeron.

"Well, obviously, we could take care of it easily!" Sam said. "Because I'm a real-"

"YOU SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME AND I WILL KILL YOU!" Ben shouted, suddenly yanking out a _daito_ and pointing it at Sam's throat.

Everyone stopped. It was astonishing for Ben to do such a thing, but the weapon itself brought awe. Its guard was circular, and the hilt was a pure white. It truly was a magnificent sword, yet all of them were stricken by something else:

It was _Wado Ichimonji_, the Straight Road of the Harmony. As well as one of the 21 finest blades in the world (_Zanpaku-to_ not included).

"How long have you been concealing that?" Aeron asked after a long silence.

"I always keep them with me," Ben said.

"_Them_?" Aerín asked. "What are you talking about?"

Cynthia sighed. "For those of you who don't know, Ben's last name is…_Roronoa_. Does that tell you anything?"

"It certainly does," Hanna said. "That sword, _Wado Ichimonji_, was in the hands of Roronoa Zolo. And it was passed on through his family, and now you, his descendent, have his three swords. That's how it is, right?"

Ben sheathed his sword. "That could be. Or maybe I don't have all three swords. What's it to you?"

"You _dare_ point a sword at me?" Sam said, his voice now clearly holding anger.

Ben looked at him, his eyes hard as the sword he had at his side now. "What are you going to do about it?"

"You two, STOP!" Aeron shouted, planting his sword in the ground.

But there was nothing even Aeron could do. Time seemed to slow down as Ben twirled his sheath over his head, pointing it point-down towards the ground, his left hand going to the sword hilt.

The words Ben uttered next were chilling: "_Itto-Ryi lai: Shishi Sonson_ (One sword style Draw and Resheath technique: Lion's Song)."

He was gone the next second. And then a group of Cipher Peons fell, their swords all shattering and breaking.

Sam was stunned by this. "You had such a power and you never used it?"

Ben's response was to slash him. But there wasn't even a mark, to Sam's utter shock.

"A swordsman cuts what he wants to cut, and protects what he wants to protect. The Legendary Swords will always stay true to it. Remember that," Ben said, walking away.

…

"So, who says we get cake after this?" Ben asked, suddenly going goofy again.

*insert record scratch here*

"Wow, way to ruin the mood, Ben," Hanna said. Everyone began laughing, except Sam, who was kind of mad now.

"Okay, let's go," Anabel said. "I think our future looks a bit brighter."

The others began to walk off, but Gardevoir hung back, glancing at the corner they just went by.

_Hm…I think someone's following us…_She closed her eyes, and then they reopened, glowing red. Then she closed them again, and the glow faded. _Yep, somebody's following us. But not for long!_

She quickly darted into another corridor and hid behind the corner.

Haku walked forward. "I think we took another wrong turn," he sighed. "We've been getting close to his reiatsu, but it seems when we're closest it's only a dead end."

"What else can we do?" Hyoshiro asked. "Level everything until we find them? That would get noticed too easily."

They started discussing things to do. Gardevoir waited as their voices rang out closer to her. Then they were on the other side of the corner, and she made her decision.

Gardevoir whirled and brought both her fists back, filling them with electricity. _THUNDER PUNCH!_

"Wha-" "HOLY S-"

**ZZZZZZZT!**

Both fell. Gardevoir watched them, then ran off after Aeron.

* * *

"HOLY (explicative removed)!" Ben shouted, looking out. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF GRILLED RICE BALLS HAPPENED HERE?"

The maintenance tunnel, totally decimated after Axel's brawl, lay before them. The bridge spanning it was shattered, and pipes were snapped, sending liquid everywhere. Cable boxes sparked out violently, and steam jetted from cartridges. Debris littered the bottom, with all the catwalks now broken.

To put it plainly, it was impossible to safely get across now. "What could have caused this?" Aeron wondered, looking out on the destruction.

Hanna held out her hand, and then a feather fell into her hands. "Look at this, guys…"

Everyone looked over at the silvery, somewhat translucent feather in Hanna's hand. Anabel frowned. "I think it's…vibrating."

"This is weird," Ben said. "What kind of bird has this kind of feather-a vibrating and translucent silver one?"

Aeron looked at Ben. "I guess no one told you. It's Axel's feather."

"WHAT?" Ben shouted. "Axel's no bird! How would he have feathers?"

"Remember Axel's Bankai, and how it gives him wings?" Aeron reminded him. "Well, the feathers tend to drift off every now and then, only to be replaced by more. They also can be shot out as bullets, or Axel can use them as a shield. And Axel has a ridiculous wingspan, so it isn't that hard."

"Whoa…" Cynthia said. "Well, I envy Axel now, because we really could use his wings."

"No worries!" Ben shouted. "I can _easily_ get to the other side with my skills from track!"

"How?" Aeron asked.

"Like this!" Ben shouted, running at the platform and taking a flying leap. "I believe I can fly-"

**SPLACK!**

Ben fell MANY meters short of the platform, smashing hard into the cluttered floor on the bottom. "29 feet!" a track guy shouted as he ran over and measured. "It's a new record!" He ran off, allowing the others to stare at him.

"That idiot," Hanna growled. "Oh well, I suppose I'd better do things my way."

"How?" Cynthia asked, looking at her. "Are you going to walk on the air or something?"

"Actually, yes," Hanna said.

"WHAT?" everyone except Aeron and Anabel shouted.

Hanna put her hand out, and then stepped off the platform. Everyone except the above mentioned gasped.

But Hanna just stood there on the air. She turned to them. "It's alright. You can walk here."

"Really?" Aerín asked, putting her foot out into the void. She gasped in surprise when her foot hit something solid and invisible. "This is weird!"

"We can walk on the air?" Cynthia asked, walking over the void. (but not towards the other side). Suddenly, she screamed as she fell, as if there wasn't a platform.

Aeron's hand shot out like lightning, grabbing her and pulling her back to safety. "Sorry, this bridge doesn't have sideguards. Just keep walking towards the other side."

"What about Ben?" Aerin asked.

"That can easily be solved," Hanna said, walking towards Ben. She stopped where, unseen, the platform of solid air also stopped. Then she thrust out her hand, and Ben was suddenly catapulted into the air. She caught him and deposited him on the bridge.

"How did we do that?" Sam asked. "That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen! I didn't know we could walk on air-"

"Actually, it's thanks to _me_ that we did that," Hanna said.

"WHAT?" everyone except for Aeron and Anabel (again) shouted.

"Hanna has an ability which I'm not sure any of you have heard of before," Aeron explained. "It's known as _Fullbring_."

"Fullbring?" Aerín asked. "What's that?"

Hanna held out her hand, and then suddenly the debris spun into the air and connected itself to the platform, creating a new bridge (though out of junk). "Everything gives off a song, the thing that defines its life. By altering the song to my liking, I can change the properties of things."

"But air doesn't live!" Sam shouted. "So how-"

"Should I dumb it down to existence for it to make more sense?" Hanna asked.

"I think that would work," Aeron said. "Anyways, let's keep going."

* * *

"Ow…" Haku groaned, getting up. "That absolutely _sucked_."

"It's never a pleasure to get Thunder Punched," Hyoshiro replied, using his _katana_ to prop himself up. Might I note that the tsuba was green, the guard was a four pointed star, and the sheath was dark blue?

"Well, it seems Aeron and the others are far away now," Haku said. "And Axel's pressure rose extremely high, meaning he lifted off his limiter. His opponent's _reiatsu_ also dropped sharply, so it seems he won. But now it seems he deactivated his _Bankai_ and put the limiter back on."

"It seems Axel's increased in power," Hyoshiro said. "Or have we been out of combat for too long, and now we're unused to how it feels?"

"I don't know, but we'd better find the others quickly." Haku was already walking off. "I have a feeling we'll be facing major problems now…"

* * *

Aeron's hand darted out so fast the others were unable to stop. Anabel crashed into him, causing Sam to crash into her, Cynthia to crash into _Sam_, Ben to crash into _Cynthia_, and so on, until there was a massive pileup with Aeron at the bottom.

"Ow," Aeron muttered, pulling himself out of the pileup. "That hurt."

"Could you tell us why you did that?" Anabel asked, thoroughly annoyed.

"I hear something…" Aeron said. "Let's keep going, but be quiet, and stick to the shadows."

They slowly tiptoed down the corridor to find a glass wall, and down below, on the other side was a room with many consoles again. But there was a massive screen on a wall, and two girls-one in green and brown, one in a lab coat-stood in front of it.

Projected on the screen was a bald, clearly old man…or was it a man? Its body appeared to be made of blue energy, and there was a strange silver and black core in the center with red rings circling it. He appeared to be in a place of mottled black and purple.

His voice was chilling as he spoke: "It seems the Shinigami and their friends that were spotted the previous day have gotten into the lab. Your security system obviously is flawed."

The girl in the lab coat's voice betrayed none of the anger she clearly felt at that remark. "It was not the security system that failed us, Lord Tabuu, but rather Shooter's incompetence. He was the one who attacked them, and yet they lived. We shouldn't have relied on him to deal with them." Her fist clenched.

"Do not talk to me in that tone, Luna," the blue guy said calmly. "But in this case, you are correct; Shooter is responsible for the invasion of Hitsugaya Toshiro."

"It's a pain that Kurosaki Ichigo blew up the lab, and now we have to clean up after these guys again," the girl in green and brown complained. "Even Aeron Solo's shown up on the scene."

"Aeron Solo? How could _he_ get in?"

"He was with his brother, who IS-LGA battled and lost against," the girl in the lab coat said. "Clearly we have to train IS-LGA and further his corruption."

"Hm…if Axel Nightblazer could defeat him…" began the blue guy.

"That's not all," the girl in the lab coat continued. "His reiatsu already was up high because he was using his Bankai, but then it increased even further."

"Limiter release," the blue guy said. "I suppose that's a success, forcing Nightblazer to unleash more of his power. If there are other results, make contact."

"Yes sir," the girl in the lab coat said stiffly.

"_Hai~_" the other girl said in a carefree tone. With that, the screen went dark, and the two girls turned to face each other.

Okay, a more _accurate_ description of the two. There probably wasn't much more to say about the girl in the lab coat, other than she had blue shades and black hair, and her lab coat went past her knees.

The other girl had brown hair down to her shoulders and brown goggles with green lenses and straps. Her eyes were brown, and she wore a sleeveless green shirt with brown portions near her midriff. She also had a blue scarf, brown shorts, and a green vest-sort of thing. To simplify things, with the colors mentioned above, she looked sort of like the female character from _Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs_.

Did I also mention that the brown haired girl also had two Capture Stylers from above mentioned game?

"Well, I guess it's up to us to stop the Shinigami, Luna," she said.

"Gaea, don't forget Aeron Solo," the girl in the lab coat, who at this point you should have realized was Luna, said.

"What? It's not like he's standing above us at this point."

"OR IS HE?" Aeron shouted, causing both to look up at him in shock.

"YOU IDIOT!" Anabel shouted, smashing him hard in the head.

**WHAM!**

"OOF!" Aeron shouted, and he smashed forward…through the glass, breaking it.

"What-? Oh no!" Hanna shouted, grabbing him, but that caused her to fall out as well, because Aeron was _just_ out of reach.

Ben grabbed onto Hanna, but doing so caused _him_ to fall, and this repeated with Cynthia, Sam and Anabel. Result: all that was anchoring them to the upper level was Anabel's feet.

"Too…much…weight…" Anabel groaned.

"I'll help!" Aerín shouted, running over a wool carpet. She touched Anabel's shoe.

**STATIC SHOCK!**

"AAAAAAAAAH!" Anabel shouted, recoiling. And the static traveled across the line, causing everyone to let go. Guess what happened next?

"CRAAAAAP!" Aeron shouted.

Everyone piled up on the lower level, with Aeron at the bottom. Aerín looked down sheepishly. "Uh…whoops."

…

"…are you guys okay?" Gaea asked after an awkward silence.

"I'm just fine," Aeron said, digging himself out of the pileup and brushing dust off his _shikahusho_.

*insert record scratch here*

"Huh?" Aeron wondered as Gaea and Luna stared at him, gaping.

"Aeron Solo made it here…" Gaea said. "Don't worry, Luna. We can take care of him ourselves."

_We?_ Aeron thought. _Who's _we_, if she's blocking out her ally?_

"Are you sure?" Luna asked. "Aeron Solo is very strong."

"He can't stand up to us," Gaea replied. "So…shall you leave the rest to me?"

"Fine," Luna sighed. "We need to do something about the other Shinigami anyway. I will battle Hitsugaya. You clean up here."

"Right," Gaea said as Luna walked to an elevator. "Later, Luna. It'll be over in five minutes."

"Who do you think you are?" Aeron asked warily. "Knowing who I am would be enough to scare most people away. But _you_…you said you'd defeat me in _five minutes_. Isn't that overestimating yourself?"

"What are you talking about?" Gaea asked. "It shouldn't be too hard to defeat you. So…shall we get to introductions?"

"Sure," Aeron said. "As you already know, I'm Aeron Solo. And…" He gestured at the others, who were getting up. "These are Anabel, Sam, Cynthia, Ben, Hanna, and…"

Aerín suddenly dropped down from above. "Hi, I'm Aerín. Wanna be friends?"

*insert record scratch here*

Aeron rocked back on his heels, and Gaea began stammering in utter shock. "Uh…what?" Aerín asked.

"Um…I don't know?" Gaea said. Finally, she composed herself. "Alright…now I'll introduce myself."

She held out her hands, and Aeron caught sight of not only Capture Stylers, but also emerald bracelets that flashed out. Suddenly, curved green blades of energy appeared in the air, extending from her fingers like claws.

"I'm Cipher Administrator Gaea. My element is Earth," Gaea said. "Now, shall we get started?"

"You're on," Aeron replied. "You shouldn't be too hard to defeat." He drew his sword, allowing light to shine on the magnificent golden blade.

"I shouldn't?" Gaea asked, seeming mildly surprised. "Then _we_ should." She held out her hands, and the Capture Stylers opened, shooting green beams. She began twirling them around, etching on the ground…

"Oh, no…" Aeron said, hardly daring to believe his bad luck. "Are you a Ranger?"

"Was," Gaea said. "But I stopped when Luna asked me to join." At that point, the symbols on the ground flashed bright green.

"What is…" Anabel began. "What is this?"

For, standing in front of them, was an army of wild Pokémon: Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Ho-oh, Latios, Latias, Lugia (normal one), Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Celebi, Meganium, Feraligater, Typhlosion, Ambipom, Aggron, Floatzel, Toxicroak, Leafeon, Vaporeon, Ivysaur, and Empoleon.

"How did she get all those Pokémon?" Ben shouted. "And a bunch of them are _Legendaries_!"

"I'll say it again: I used to be a Ranger. And I kept my Stylers with me," Gaea said. "They were modified to be able to use Ranger Signs."

"What're Ranger Signs?" Aerín asked.

"They're ancient runes etched into the ground and infused with a special power to summon Pokémon," Aeron said. "Pokémon Rangers use them."

"So…have you got the nerve to say I'm gonna be easy to beat?" Gaea asked.

* * *

_Cipher Admin Gaea would like to battle!_

Aeron put the sword at his hip and his hand on the base. "It's best not to take chances here! Rule over the Raging Heavens, _Tsubasa no Rai-oh _(Thunder King's Wings)!"

Immediately, Aeron whipped his hand along the blade, and the sword changed into a double-edged sword with emerald green edges and a gold indent along the length of the blade. The guard also changed, turning into an elongated hexagon at the base of the blade with twin spikes pointing down the length of the blade to the sides, below the area where each edge ends.

"Let's go!" Aeron shouted, pointing his blade at Gaea. "_Ikazuchi Chikara_ (Thunder Force)!" Gold lightning crackled along the blade, then blasted at Gaea, with stray bolts racing around it.

But it hit Gaea, and…nothing happened. Gaea looked at him. "That all? Okay, my turn."

Suddenly, many cuts appeared on Aeron's body. Aeron stared at them in shock, then got ready to attack again. "I see, you're of Earth, so my lightning attacks have no effect. Then I'll take a different approach." He whipped up his hand, bringing icy blue energy to it. "_Hama Hyoketsu_ (Magic Wave: Freeze)!"

A blast of white energy blasted from his hand, and struck the area, freezing and creating a massive glacier. But then…it shattered!

"How did they break out of _that_?" Aeron shouted.

"Entei. Typhlosion. Moltres. Ho-oh. It appears our opponent is confused," Gaea said. "Show him how it's done. Entei, Moltres, Fire Blast! Ho-oh, Sacred Fire! Typhlosion, Blast Burn!"

Aeron watched in horror as two 5 point crosses of fire, a flaring ripple of flame, and a rose colored fire stream all blasted towards him.

**BOOOM!**

Aeron was surprised when he saw the blue glow. Then he saw Hanna in front of him, blocking the attack with _Eteru no Uta_. "Hanna…"

Hanna clenched her teeth, unable to stand up against the massive fire attack for long. _I've got to end this quick!_

"_Ketatamashi Uta_ (Piercing Song)!" she shouted, and her…beam swords flared bright blue, pulsing a massive blast of solid sound that smashed through the flame and crashed into the Pokémon.

"Go, Aeron!" Hanna shouted as another stream of fire from Ho-oh came flying at her. She spun her blade, smacking it away. "I can hold my ground!"

"I'll get her!" Sam shouted, already in Arcticryo form. He dashed towards the admin, but then Empoleon, Toxicroak, Latias, Latios, and Aggron got in his path. "What the-? Fine, I'll mow you down."

"Latios, Luster Purge! Latias, Mist Ball! Toxicroak, Focus Blast! Empoleon, Flash Cannon! Aggron, just block his way!" Gaea shouted.

"This should be easy," Sam said. He jumped out of the way of several shining rays of light, but then mist exploded in his face. "AUGH! How'd it hit?" He blasted a Blizzard, but the mist blocked it, and a smaller amount of snow blasted out, unable to hit its target because the mist blocked all vision.

"This sucks!" Sam shouted. Suddenly, he saw a purple flash, and then Luster Purge hit dead on, causing an explosion of light. Then there was a silver flash and a red one, and then Focus Blat and Flash Cannon slammed into him, also exploding.

"Grrr…" Sam threw himself out of the mist, pale blue lightning coursing around him in a Freeze Shock. Suddenly, he felt himself smash hard into Aggron. "What the-? Aggron?"

Aggron roared, but his mouth held a silver sphere…

"CRAP!" Sam shouted.

Suddenly, Ben was in front of him, with a _daito_ in both hands, and _Wado Ichimonji_ in his mouth. He brought up a sword with a gold cross-like guard with rounded edges and a silver blade. _Sandai Kitetsu_ (Third Generation Demon Splitter), a blade wicked as it was sharp. It was said to bring death to its owner, and unlike most swords, it appeared to have its own mind, cutting anything.

"What the-Ben?" Sam shouted. He got no response as Ben thrust _Sandai Kitetsu_ into the energy, causing it to explode. Aggron roared in annoyance and then headbutted him. But then Ben's other blade swiped up: _Shusui_ (Clear Autumn Water), a black blade with a flower like guard and red running along the blade; its destructive potential was awesome, its hardness as well. Aggron repeatedly smashed against the blade, and it still wouldn't bend.

"My turn!" Ben shouted through the hilt of _Wado Ichimonji_. He crossed the blades of _Shusui_ and _Sandai Kitetsu_ in front of his chest and _Wado Ichimonji _crossing behind them horizontally. "_Oni Giri_ (Demon Slash)!" he shouted, dashing towards Aggron at alarming speed. Aggron couldn't do anything in time.

**SLASH! SLICE! DICE!**

Two descending diagonal slashes. One horizontal slash to the left. But Aggron brought his head against the three blades, and they all were caught at the same point, unable to do anything.

"Crap! He found the technique's weakness!" Ben shouted. "And Aggron hide is really tough…"

"Rice ball _what_?" Sam shouted. (_Oni Giri_ also means "rice ball", a Japanese snack.)

"SHUT UP! I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE SAY THAT!" Ben raged, smashing his foot into Aggron's face. Aggron stumbled back, then recovered and swiped with his claws. Ben dodged, then tucked his sword's hilts into his armpits, and pointed them at Aggron. "_Ushi Bari_ (Bull Horns)!" he shouted, and charged. Several tiny marks appeared. Aggron roared in annoyance, then turned and ran at Ben. Ben narrowed his eyes and kept fighting.

Sam had no time to watch. He jumped back as a Luster Purge flew at him, then ducked underneath many multicolored needles (Psybeam). _There's got to be a way to defeat both of these two,_ he thought. _Perhaps if I tried a new move…_His attention was drawn to the many melting pieces of ice from Aeron's _Hama Hyoketsu_, lying on the ground. _That'll work!_

Sam began to freeze the water, however he froze it up above his two attackers. In the meantime, he dodged a massive storm of meteors, endured a powerful mental attack, and counterattacked when the two tried to slash him with their steely wings.

"NOW!" Sam shouted, roaring. Immediately, icicles dropped from the ceiling, far too many in number to dodge. Latios and Latias looked up in shock before being buried by icicles.

"Oh yeah!" Sam shouted before jumping at Empoleon.

As his friends battled the Pokémon, Aeron ran towards the Admin, dodging attacks. Suddenly, Typhlosion, Feraligater, Meganium, and Ambipom barred his way.

"Crap!" Aeron muttered, moving to get his sword. He needn't have bothered.

Suddenly, he heard "HYDRO PUMP!" and found a torrent of water crashing into Typhlosion, knocking him back.

"What?" Aeron shouted as Axel's Daikenki jumped in front of him. "Daikenki? What're you still doing here?"

"Axel didn't have time to recall us," Daikenki explained as Chikorita, Lucario and Ninetales landed nearby. "So we're here to help. We'll take care of these guys. You keep going!"

"Right!" Aeron shouted. "Thanks guys!" He kept running, but then Lugia, Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno came in front.

Aeron moved for his sword again, but then Cynthia stepped up. "Aeron, Anabel and I will deal with these four. Keep moving, and don't lose now!"

"Thanks, Cynthia," Aeron said. He dodged a blast of gales and ran through the battle, but now it was Entei, Raikou and Suicune in his way.

"No choice…" Aeron pointed his finger at the three, and a circle of green light pulled in around it. "_Shinsei Bakuha_ (Nova Blast)!" Three pulses of green outlined with gold shot from his finger, smashing the three away.

"Now you're wide open!" Aeron shouted, running at Gaea. She responded with a casual look and a flick of her wrist, slashing with the energy blades. They ripped through the floor, through consoles, through _everything_ they touched…

_Crap!_ Aeron thought, and he jumped away, but then Gaea was flipping through the air above him, slashing with the other hand. Aeron thrust out his hand, freezing a wall of ice in front of the blades, but they got through that, too. Then the other one was behind him, and he hurled himself sideways out of the way of the two sets of energy claws.

"What's wrong?" Gaea taunted, landing. "Is the great Aeron Solo running? Your brother was doing a lot better, it seems."

"Say that again," Aeron growled. "Get overconfident, and soon you'll be lying down face down in the dirt!" Green wind swirled around his blade, and he charged. "_Reppuzan_!"

"Lying face down in the dirt?" Gaea replied. "Say that again."

"That again," Aeron replied, suddenly hurling himself to the side. A wave of earth blasted upwards where he used to be. "There, I said it."

"No you didn't," Gaea replied, jumping at him and slashing. "If you said it, you'd say it like this: IT."

Aeron parried the attack. "You're as bad as my brother with jokes, you know that?" He jumped back and pointed his sword at her. "But this fight ends now."

Bright white light gathered at the tip of _Tsubasa no Raioh_, turning into a massive fireball. He brought it back, then slashed hard. "_Nagareboshi_ (Shooting Star)!"

A massive, unconventional fireball blasted from the tip of Aeron's sword, racing quickly towards Gaea. "It's over, Gaea!" Aeron shouted.

Suddenly, a jet of water hit the fireball, extinguishing it. Aeron whirled and saw Vaporeon and Leafeon coming his way. "What? There still were some left?"

Then Celebi floated in. Her eyes glowed, but green and blue light was radiating off her. Aeron had no time to wonder why, because suddenly he was blasted backwards with a mental blast.

"AUGH!" Aeron shouted. _That was a Psychic, but even for a Celebi, it was strong…_

Vaporeon and Leafeon suddenly attacked with twin swirling balls of mottled purple, dealing Aeron TWO Shadow Balls at once. Aeron was just getting up when a pillar of leaves smashed into him, slashing him in many places.

Aeron got back up and then began to call water to his sword. "_Uzumaki Kyouran_ (Whirlpool Frenzy)!" he shouted, sending a vortex of water flying at the admin.

Celebi and Leafeon suddenly glowed, and the water turned green and flowed into them. _Giga Drain!_

Aeron held his hand out. "_Hama Hyoketsu_!" _Why will none of my attacks get through against these guys?_

But just as the cold began to flare out, Vaporeon blasted it with a Hydro Pump, dispelling the energy. Aeron understood when he saw Leafeon staring at Vaporeon, eyes glowing green.

_They're using Helping Hand to power up each other's attacks! So _that's_ why I'm not able to defeat them!_

Aeron suddenly saw a massive wave of earth rising, and dodged it, but then he saw green dust heading towards him. _Crap!_ It cut him in several places, but Aeron could do nothing when Gaea was suddenly behind him.

**SLASH!**

Many deep wounds appeared on Aeron's back, and he fell.

Gaea looked triumphant. "So, we _were_ able to defeat you. Alright, Aeron Solo's down. Vaporeon, Leafeon, Celebi. Come on, let's take out the rest."

"No…Aeron _lost_?" Ben shouted.

"But Aeron was like the strongest of the strong…" Sam whispered.

"It's the end..." Anabel groaned, sinking to her knees.

Gaea smiled. "Don't worry, you won't die. 'Course, I don't know what my superior will tell me to do with you."

"You could start by surrendering."

**THOOM!**

Everyone was forced to their knees as a powerful force smashed down on them, unseen. Green and gold light filled the room. And the most alarming part was this:

Aeron Solo was the one giving it off. And he was getting back up.

"You're still up?" Gaea shouted. "Whatever. We'll defeat you easily."

"You say that so soon," Aeron said, raising his sword and pointing it skyward. "But this is the difference between us. You will find, Gaea, that nothing is always as it seems…"

"What makes you say that?" Gaea asked.

She got a massive burst of green from Aeron's sword in response, smashing against the ceiling.

"What I'm saying is…the difference between us is this!" Aeron shouted. **"BANKAI!"**

**To Be Continued**

* * *

_Hmph. He could have come up with a better ending than that. Oh well, his loss if his hit levels go down._

**I HAVE RETURNED FROM THE DEAD! XD**

_Ah, so you've returned, Axel. Okay, over to you now. I'm gonna get cake. Later._

**Okay, thanks for saying stuff while I was away, Aeron. Alright! Now Aeron's going to release his Bankai, so you know this is going to be awesome!**

**Yes, I just had to bring in **_**Pokémon Rangers: Guardian Signs**_**. I really don't know zip about the game, but I decided mainstream games and the Coliseum Verse wouldn't cut it alone.**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter! And remember to re-**

***insert record scratch here***

**Wait…whoops, I talked at the wrong time! This is the Random Bonus Story segment time! Gotta get out of here!**

* * *

**Random Bonus Story…XD**

"So, how's the liberation of Orussia going?" Axel asked, sitting in front of the computer.

"Not too great," came the response from the computer. "The Neuroi are attacking harder every time."

"Should I come to help, Rinna?" Axel asked.

"Nah. Think we can take care of it," his friend Rinna replied through the computer…and through Skype.

Axel sighed. "You've lived thousands of years like I have, and still you're reckless as ever…you and Minna are really different."

"Well, that's because paperwork affects Minna's brain," Rinna said, grinning. "And you're one to talk about being reckless. You and Aeron are tops there."

"Doh," Axel muttered. A smile suddenly crept onto his lips. "So…I hear you broke your Strikers?"

"Shut up, Axel," Rinna muttered.

"Hey, who're you talking to?" Sam asked, walking in.

"Oh, hey Sam," Axel said, turning, but unconsciously covering the screen. "I'm having a conversation with my friend."

"Hey! Who're you talking to over there?" Rinna called.

"Oh, right," Axel said. "Rinna, my friend Sam's over here. Sam, she's Rinna. She's a Strike Witch."

"You and your stupid Strike Witches!" Sam said, annoyed. Axel talked often about them, but he rarely gave details.

"They're not stupid," Axel said. "If you knew what they go through each day…" He stopped. What he heard next sent a chill down his spine.

"Hey, Sanya, could I have your Fliegerhammer?"

"Huh? Sure, Rinna…"

"Okay, thanks Sanya. Hey, Axel, move over a little. I wanna say hi to Sam."

"Uh…right," Axel said. "Uh, Sam, come over to the screen. Rinna wants to say hi to you." He got up and quickly left.

Sam looked after him, then walked up to the screen. And then a Fliegerhammer rocket flew out of the SCREEN.

"WHAT THE F-"

**BOOOOOOM!**

Axel stood just outside the door. "Well, he got what was coming to him," he muttered to himself.

* * *

**Moral: Don't call Rinna stupid, or she'll hurt you.**

**Badly.**


	26. Toshiro ends up in a Coffin

**Hey everyone who bothers to read this (XD)!**

**Today we will be battling a bunch of Admins! Hold onto your hats as Aeron uses his Bankai, and Haku and Hyoshiro get ready to use their own power! Yay!**

**AND REVIEW! BUT DON'T ASK ME WHEN THE NEXT CHAPTER COMES OUT!**

* * *

"How do you think Chikorita, Ninetales, Lucario, and Daikenki are doing?" Axel asked. "Do you think we should be worried?"

"Don't worry, everyone knows that 2+2=over 9000," Pikachu said, smiling.

*insert record scratch here*

_WHAT THE HECK GOES ON IN YOUR MIND?_ Latias thought, smashing Pikachu in the face.

Axel suddenly pivoted. "Guys, look at that!"

A massive column of green light blasted into the sky, and then clouds began to spiral around it, blotting out the sun. A hurricane was appearing!

_A hurricane?_ Latias thought. _The weather's going weird!_

Lightning bolts crashed down randomly and frequently, and hailstones the size of this computer I am typing on fell from the sky. Rain poured down in Elephants and Giraffes, and gales blasted at unbelievable speed. But twelve lightning bolts came from sky to ground far away, not fading.

"This weather's whacko! It's like Aeron's going Bankai!" Pikachu shouted.

"Pikachu," Axel said. "I think that's what's going on."

"Exactly," Pikachu said.

…

"WHAT?" Pikachu shouted and Latias thought.

* * *

A lightning bolt suddenly crashed through the ceiling, destroying it and smashing into the spot where the beam of green had blasted from. Everyone screamed except Hanna and Anabel.

"What the heck?" Gaea shouted. "He self destructed!"

Lightning bolt after lightning bolt crashed into the spot where Aeron had been, and it was blinding. The ceiling was totally decimated as a result.

"Aeron got struck by lightning!" Ben shouted. "We should do something!"

As suddenly as they started, the lightning stopped. And everyone who hadn't seen it before was shocked by what they saw:

A spiky obelisk of ice had formed where the lightning struck. It reached up all the way to the sky.

"A tower of ice…" Sam said. "But this isn't ordinary ice! What's going on?"

"And more importantly…" Cynthia squinted. "Where's Aeron?"

The tip of the obelisk suddenly shattered. And Aeron was there, sword still pointing skyward.

But not the same sword. It was a two-handed sword, much fancier than _Tsubasa no Rai-oh_, with the blade widening after the guard's spikes and then tapering down to the point. Aeron himself was clad in a new green long sleeved, ankle length coat lined with gold inside.

Aeron's eyes opened, totally calm. "_Bankai. Senkei…Kage no Rai-oh_ (Final Release. Slaughterscape: Thunder King's Shadow)."

"_That's_ your Bankai?" Sam asked. "It's not that big…"

"I dare you to say it's wimpy," Aeron said, leveling it at Gaea. "Cipher Administrator Gaea. I'm afraid this is the end."

Suddenly, the remaining Pokémon-Celebi, Vaporeon, Leafeon, Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno, Toxicroak, Ivysaur, and Floatzel-were charging at him, trying to mow him down.

Aeron sighed, and held out his hand, allowing icy energy to accumulate. "_Hama Hyoketsu_!" The sphere fired from his hand and flew towards the Pokémon. They tried to dispel it with their own attacks.

The next instant, all of them were frozen in a massive glacier.

"Holy crap! He made a glacier!" Ben shouted. "Wait…where'd he go?"

Just like that, Aeron was gone. Everyone looked around, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"What're you all looking at?" they heard. "I'm right here!"

They all turned, but there was no one. "Too slow, I'm right here!" they heard from another corner of the room.

"Look, just quit the mind games and show yourself!" Gaea shouted.

"Fine," she heard from Aeron. And then his blade was pointed at her chest. "If you want me to fight, I will."

Gold began to fill his blade. "_Ikazuchi Chikara_!"

**ZOW!**

Gaea was shocked. She was immune to electricity, so she wasn't harmed. But the area behind her wasn't as lucky. It was totally decimated.

"Whoops," Aeron said. "Whatever was there, I hope it was important."

"That was rather rude," Hanna commented.

"_Cipher_'s rude. What do you want me to do about it?" Aeron retorted.

Gaea finally got her mind to work again. "D…don't overestimate yourself!" She jumped at him and sent a bunch of tiny diamonds flying at him.

Aeron looked at it, bored. Then he raised his sword. "_Nagareboshi_!" he shouted, sending the white fireball at the diamonds, causing an explosion. (TOO CLICHÉ! DX)

A massive cloud of dust was kicked up. Gaea couldn't see a thing. Except for a green flash somewhere…_Wait, what the heck is that?_

"_Shinsei Taiho_!" she heard. The next moment, a massive green beam blasted her.

But then Aeron was on the other side. Blue was flashing around him now. "_Uzumaki Kyouran_!" A torrent of water smashed her even when _Shinsei Taiho_'s beam hadn't even faded.

And then Aeron was right behind her, his hand glowing pale blue. "_Hyoketsu Bakuha_ (Freeze Blast!)"

Aeron blasted a shining jet of pale blue energy, slamming into Gaea and everything about 5 meters behind her in a block of ice.

_Crap!_ Gaea thought. _This isn't good!_ Her energy blades came to life, and she sliced out. But then she saw Aeron's finger pointing at her…

"_Shinsei Taiho_," Aeron said calmly.

**KA-BOOOOOM!**

* * *

"What the heck was all that?" Toshiro wondered, hearing the explosion.

"I don't know," Izuru replied. "But Captain Hitsugaya, we should keep moving. They can't be very far behind us…"

"And if they're right in front of us?" Momo asked.

"Then we're surrounded, and I don't know what else," Izuru replied.

"We fight our way out, that's what," Uryu said.

"Um, guys?" Orihime called. "Why's this room filled with water?"

"What?" Uryu asked, walking over. Sure enough, this wasn't an ordinary lab. It had all the necessary equipment, but it was all on top of catwalks, and there was water filling the bottom of the room. And were those Water-type Pokémon there?

"I wonder what this is all about…" Chad muttered, walking into the room.

"Hey, guys, why's the door closing?" Volkner shouted.

"What? Who's closing it?" Toshiro shouted.

"Well, what have we here?" they suddenly heard. They turned around to see a girl in a lab coat. "Seems I've found Hitsugaya Toshiro."

"Wh-who are you?" Toshiro demanded, his hand going to his sword.

"I?" the girl asked coldly. She took off her lab coat, revealing a blue sleeveless shirt and matching skirt. "I'm Luna, a Cipher Administrator. Now might _I_ ask why you're in my private wings?"

"We came here by accident," Izuru said. "There was a lock, but we busted it with _Kido_."

"I see," Luna said, holding up her lab coat and putting a hand in it. "Seems I should have designed my own quarters' security better."

Suddenly, the lab coat fell, revealing a katana with a blue _tsuba_, circular guard with a spiraling design, and a blue scabbard. "Then I'll take you on myself. Are you ready, Hitsugaya Toshiro?"

Toshiro watched as she drew the katana, which gleamed wickedly in the light. _There's something not right here…_

"What happens if we win?" Izuru asked.

"You won't," Luna said, leveling the sword at them. Suddenly, a raging torrent of water blasted from it, hurtling towards them.

"A water attack?" Uryu shouted. He suddenly remembered what would happen if it hit. "Ah…Orihime!"

"_Santen Kesshun_ (Three Sacred Links Shield)!" Orihime shouted. A triangular shield manifested in front of them, and the water crashed against it harmlessly.

"The pressure from that attack…" Uryu said. "It can split solid rock! She can't be taken lightly!"

Luna suddenly appeared behind them. "You left your back unguarded!" she shouted, and lunged.

**WHANG!**

Toshiro's blade was drawn, and it was up against hers. "You attacked. I'm obligated to do something I probably wouldn't want to do normally."

They broke contact, and Toshiro took on a fighting stance. "Cipher Administrator Luna, because you attacked us first…I must retaliate."

Luna looked coldly at him. "Then come, _Shinigami_, to your doom."

* * *

_Cipher Admin Luna would like to battle!_

Toshiro charged at Luna and tried to slash her, but Lunna parried and stopped the blade. There was a bit of contact before Toshiro pushed harder against the blade. Luna saw her chance and ducked under it, and _Hyorinmaru_ flew through space. Luna leveled her sword and lunged.

_Crap!_ Toshiro thought. _I left myself wide open!_

**WHANG!**

Chad had blocked the attack with _Brazo Derecha del Gigante_. Then he brought his left arm back. "_La Muerte_ (The Death)!" he shouted, punching.

**KA-BOOOM!**

A skull like crater appeared in the wall that Chad had punched towards. But Luna was nowhere to be seen…

"What? Where'd she go?" Chad shouted. He looked around, but she was nowhere.

"Behind you, fool."

A blast of water smashed Chad from behind, sending him crashing into the wall. Toshiro watched him. "No!" He pointed the sword at Luna. "_Soten ni zase…Hyorinmaru_ (Sit upon the frozen heavens, Frozen Full Moon)!"

The dragon of ice raged towards Luna, shimmering with cold. Luna watched it come, then brought her sword up and slashed, smashing the dragon aside.

"Ha!" Toshiro shouted, appearing behind her and slashing. Luna whirled and smacked the blade away…with her scabberd?

Toshiro had no time to wonder why, because then Luna blasted water at him with her sword. He quickly froze it, only to see Luna smash through it and slice at him. But water shimmered around her blade, and Toshiro found it extremely hard to block.

"Having problems, Hitsugaya?" Luna asked. "It's about to get a lot worse."

"I'll show you worse!" Toshiro shouted, and he froze the water over and smashed through it, only to find her scabberd flying at his head.

Momo suddenly jumped up in front of him and blocked the attack with her own blade. "_Hajike: Tobiume_ (Snap: Flying Plum Tree!)" she shouted. Her blade became a double-edged one, with three prongs sticking out at various locations on the blade.

"Oh, _Tobiume_," Luna said. "A fire type _Zanpaku-to_. Shame it's unfit for this situation." Water swirled around her blade as she spoke.

"It may be unfit for this situation, and I may only be a Lieutenant," Momo said bravely. "But…" Fire raced down the length of her blade, across the prongs, wreathing _Tobiume_ in it. "…there's no reason not to try!"

Saying those words, she jumped at Luna and slashed. Luna parried and stabbed at Momo, but she dodged it and slashed at Luna. Luna ducked and kicked, sending Momo into the air. Torrents of water rushed into the air at the Lieutenant, bound to blast her from all angles.

"Hinamori!" Toshiro shouted. He jumped up, but he knew he was too late.

Momo watched the torrents come. _Is there a way to get out of this?_ She looked around._ Oh, I've got it…_ She began to spin around, generating flame in _Tobiume_. More and more flame poured out until a wheel of fire surrounded her, preventing even a droplet of water from getting through. The flames were so intense, the heat generated from them actually evaporated all the water. Soon, the torrents were gone.

"All right!" Orihime shouted.

But then the flame wheel ended, and Momo staggered. _What-? Oh…I guess I used up too much energy…_

Suddenly, Lunna was right next to her. "You're wide open, Hinamori Momo," she said, slashing.

Momo stared in shock as the blade came down. Suddenly, Izuru was in front, blocking the sword.

"You shouldn't attack people when they can't fight anymore," he said. "_Omoto o agero, Wabisuke_ (Raise your head, the Wretched One)!"

"That's your honor," Luna replied, clashing. But she surrounded her sword with water, and Izuru realized his _Shikai_ wouldn't work. "But I've had a different experience, so I play by different rules." Water gushed out of her sword, splashing Izuru and sending him falling.

"Too easy," Luna muttered. "It seems Lieutenants are weaker than expected. They didn't even use _Gentei Kaijo_."

"It seems I have to do it, then," Toshiro said, pointing his sword. "_Ban_-"

Luna suddenly appeared next to him and smashed her scabbard upward, sending _Hyorinmaru_ skittering out of Toshiro's hands. "No!" Toshiro shouted as the sword fell into the water below.

Luna advanced, triumphant. Down below, Momo and Izuru were surrounded by a bunch of Gyarados.

"_Koten Zanshun_ (Solitary Sacred Cutting Shield)! _I reject!_"

Luna turned in surprise. Something pierced through the walkway underneath her, and then an oval split it, sending her falling down to the bottom.

Toshiro had noticed it and jumped away to another catwalk. Quickly, Uryu appeared next to him. "You should keep a tighter grip on your sword," he said, handing the Captain his _Zanpaku-to_.

"You're right, I guess I was careless," Toshiro said. "Let's go!" He jumped down towards the bottom to continue the fight.

Down below, Izuru watched the Gyarados come. "Crap, I can't take them all on by myself…"

"Go, Electivire! Use Thunder Punch!" Volkner shouted, throwing the Pokéball. Electivire came out, surrounded his fist with lightning, and punched. Gyarados was sent flying across the room.

"_El Directo_!" Chad shouted, punching away another Gyarados. Blue energy blasted out of his arm, smashing Gyarados extra hard into his buddies.

Luna suddenly bore down on them. "Fine, I'll continue the fight here!" she shouted.

"_Ginrei Kojaku_ (Silver Cliff, Lone Sparrow)!" Uryu shouted, forming his bow and blasting many arrows at Luna. She sent water flying up to block each one.

Uryu growled. "I can fire many arrows, but none of them can penetrate that barrier of water. I'll just have to-"

"Don't even try it," Luna said. She held up her sword. "Know this: My sword doesn't channel my energy like your _Zanpaku-to_ do. Instead…" She pointed her sword at them, and a massive tidal wave swept up behind her, roaring towards them. "It _amplifies_ it!"

"What?" Toshiro shouted.

**SPLASH!**

* * *

Gaea emerged from the blast. It had taken all her energy to survive it, and it definitely hadn't been easy. "Well, that stunk," she muttered.

"I'm surprised," Aeron said as the smoke cleared. "My _Bankai_ powers my abilities and capacities up by 15. On top of that, _Shinsei Taiho_ would obliterate anything in its path…and it certainly has done that to the space behind you. But you've survived it. For a human, you're quite resilient."

"That was through the _Hogyoku_ (Crumbling Orb)," Gaea said. "I can guess what you're going to say. It was destroyed on the same day you died, right?"

"Exactly," Aeron said, a bit baffled himself. "Aizen was forced to cause it to self destruct to destroy his enemy."

"Yes, but there was _another Hogyoku_ created," Gaea said. "Aizen created it in case something happened to the original. And now it's in the hands of our boss, Tabuu."

"Hm…" Aeron frowned. He had heard the name "Tabuu" before, yet couldn't remember where.

Suddenly, Gaea was jumping at him, sending a wave of earth racing at him. "You're open," she said.

"Dirty," Aeron replied. He pointed his finger. "_Shinsei Taiho_!" He blasted the green beam, but Gaea suddenly sprang off in another direction.

Gaea jumped at him and slashed with her blades. Aeron's blade glowed green. "_Reppuzan_!" he shouted, and he sliced at Gaea.

All of Gaea's energy blades shattered.

Aeron watched calmly. Gaea stared in shock.

"Now I can finish it." Aeron started to create a pale blue sphere. "_Hama Hyoketsu_!"

"It won't work! I'm gonna dodge it!" Gaea shouted. "And I can regenerate my energy blades…" She regenerated them on the spot.

"Right, right…understood," Aeron said. Suddenly, he jumped into the air and _let go_ of the sphere.

"What?" Gaea shouted. "What're you trying to do?"

Aeron said nothing. He turned himself upside down in midair, and…stabbed the sphere with his sword.

**KA-BOOOOM!**

Ice exploded in every direction. Gaea was frozen in place by it all. "Ugh…" She began to struggle to break it, summoning her energy blades…

"_Reppuzan_!" Aeron shouted, and he suddenly shattered the ice, and all the blades. Then he turned and shot ice, freezing her again.

"What?" Gaea shouted. "He cut through the blades? And now I can't regenerate them…"

"Now _you're_ wide open," Aeron said, his sword suddenly glowing white all over, and a rainbowy aura around him. "You put up a good fight, Gaea. I will show you some respect by using my ultimate move."

"Aeron's ultimate move?" Sam wondered. "What could that be?"

"He's already plenty strong," Ben said. "How could he be even stronger?"

"There is a side to Aeron you haven't seen," Hanna said. "While it can only be seen in the direst times, this is the closest he will get to achieving it."

"HaaaaAAAAAH!" Aeron shouted, the white energy now flaring out of his back like wings. The energy in his blade was now shining out harshly. He pointed the blade at Gaea, who stared in shock at what was coming.

"_Sutāsutoraiku Burasuto_ (Starstrike Blast)!" Aeron shouted.

A massive blast of white fringed with rainbowy energy blasted from his sword. It smashed into Gaea, creating a blinding explosion.

When it was over, Gaea lay on the ground, badly injured and unconscious. And everything around them was totally eradicated.

"Whoaaaaaaa…" Ben said.

Aeron held up his sword, and it wreathed him in green light. And when it was over, his _Bankai_ coat was gone, his scabberd was at his hip, and _Tsubasa no Rai-oh_ was sealed. "Now we can go, right?" he asked.

"It really wasn't necessary to use your most powerful move, was it?" Hanna asked.

"I wanted to end it quickly," Aeron said. "But I guess I underestimated my own power."

"Are you saying you're this strong and you've been hiding it all this time?" Sam shouted.

"Yes, I am," Aeron said. "Now, how do we get out of here?"

"Ugh…" Gaea was beginning to regain consciousness.

"Should I heal her, Aeron?" Hanna asked. "We don't want death here."

"Yes, I think that should do," Aeron said. Hanna held her hand out over Gaea, and green light flashed out, covering Gaea. Her wounds slowly disappeared as the light washed over her.

"Wh-why are you healing me?" Gaea asked. "I'm your enemy, after all…"

"We don't allow people to die without doing something first," Hanna said. "Everyone has a right to live."

At that point, her wounds were totally gone. Gaea began to get up, but then Aeron suddenly held up his hand, gathering icy energy.

"Sorry," Aeron said. "We're allowing you to live, but we can't have other Cipher Peons coming to reinforce you. So I'll just freeze you here…"

"I see…" Gaea said. "That being said, I don't have much energy left. But…"

"Huh?" Aeron said.

"As a token of thanks for sparing me," Gaea said. She pointed. "There's a secret exit over there. You can get out that way."

"Hm…? Why are you telling us this?" Aeron asked. "Like you said, we're _your_ enemy, after all."

Gaea looked at him. "You know, given what I've heard, you're really not such a bad guy."

"Well, thanks," Aeron said. "So, now can I freeze you?"

Gaea smiled. "I can't really stop you there, can I?"

"Not really, "Aeron admitted. "Alright, thanks again for the escape route. _Hyoketsu Bakuha_!"

* * *

Toshiro hit the ground hard. "Ugh…" He had fought his hardest-they _all_ fought their hardest-and now the Cipher Admin was standing above them, having achieved nothing less than perfect victory.

"How could she have defeated us?" Chad asked. "Are we just not strong enough?"

"Quite right, Sado Yasutora," Luna said coldly. "And I've decided your fate now."

"Which is?" Toshiro said, expecting the worst.

"I will show you the difference between us," Luna told him. "And it'll be insult on top of injury. Because I have transcended the _Shinigami_. And I will demonstrate this by destroying you with your own creation."

She thrust her hand into the air, and a black and purple aura surrounded her. "Hitsugaya Toshiro, I will eradicate you with my _Kido_!"

"What? Kido?" Volkner shouted. "Impossible! Only _Shinigami_…and Ulquiorra Cifer…can use it!" No one noticed Luna twitch at the mention of Ulquiorra.

"Not really," Toshiro said grimly. "Anyone can do it. It's just a matter of concentration and refining of power." He began to sink to his knees…

Volkner looked at him, unable to believe what he was seeing. The prodigious captain of the 10th Company was admitting defeat. _But I don't have my true power, either…we've definitely lost, haven't we?_ The Gym Leader didn't want to admit it, but he knew they'd lost as soon as he heard Luna beginning the chant.

"_Seeping crest of turbidity…arrogant vessel of lunacy! Boil forth and deny…grow numb and flicker…disrupt the sleep!"_

"Can't we do anything?" Uryu shouted.

"The spell she's using hits from all angles," Momo said. "You can't avoid it, either. It will always form around the target. And…it will eradicate anything inside it, regardless of how strong they are. You can only hope to break out, and that's nearly impossible."

"Does that mean…we'll die?" Orihime asked, worried.

Momo looked at her sadly. "Yes."

"_Crawling queen of iron…eternally self destructing doll of mud! Unite…repulse! Fill the earth…and know your own powerlessness!"_ Luna shouted, purple energy now violently crackling around her.

"And with those words…" Izuru fell to the ground. "We've come all this way, only to fall to our own creation…"

"_Hado no Kyuuju! Kurohitsugi!_ (Way of Destruction #90, Black Coffin!)" Luna shouted, sending a pulse of purple into the air.

Almost immediately, panels of black began to materialize in the air around our heroes, crosses preceding them and then filling with black as they multiplied. An eerie purple filled the air.

"We're trapped!" Chad shouted, watching the walls rise. "What can we do?"

"Nothing," Momo replied. "We barely have energy left, and this is one of the most powerful _Kido_ ever…"

"A fully powered _Kido_ that strikes from all angles without fail!" Luna shouted. "A coffin which eradicates all in it! Gravitation with the ability to bend even Space and Time themselves! This is the true power of the spell _Kurohitsugi_! You have lost, Hitsugaya Toshiro!"

Toshiro watched through the last place where the black hadn't filled. _It's the end…_

The black filled the last space. Purple energy coursed out violently. Black spears were lodged in the top, stabbing into the coffin.

Luna watched it, panting heavily. "Using _Kido_ is very taxing on me…after all, I'm only a human. But now, I'll finish the incantation, and the _Gotei Jusan_ (Thirteen Imperial Guard Companies) will be down by one captain!" She thrust out her hands, purple still around her. The coffin began to glow brighter…

A white projectile flew. The coffin suddenly shattered.

"What?" Luna stared at where the coffin stood, dumbfounded. _That was one with an incantation! It shouldn't have been able to be broken! How did it happen?_ Indeed, the former captives of the coffin looked as thunderstruck as she did. _That means they didn't know it was coming, either. What's going on?_

"Well, well, the Captain of 10th Company, Hitsugaya Toshiro the prodigy, needs our assistance," a voice came.

"Go easy on him, Haku. He's young…compared to us, and hasn't reached his fullest potential yet."

"You're softening up, Hyoshiro. He may be related to you, but he's still a captain. He still should be at least a _little_ stronger for a Captain."

"Oh, stop it. But I guess now…" At this point two teenagers, one in black with black hair and eyes and one in pale blue with silver hair and blue eyes, entered the room. "…we should take matters into our own hands."

Everyone noticed the Captain's _Haoris_ on their backs.

"You," Toshiro said, getting up. "You're…Hitsugaya Hyoshiro, the first Captain of 10th Company ever!"

"Indeed I am, my descendant," Hyoshiro said, reaching to the sword on his back.

"And you are?" Luna asked warily. "Did Solo and Nightblazer ask for help?"

"They just called; we came," Haku said. He held out his left hand, revealing a black glove to his elbow with white lines running around the wrist, from elbow to split and go around the fingers, and still one around the thumb. "And Axel and Aeron are our friends. How could we ever say no?"

"Toshiro," Hyoshiro said, drawing his sword. "Rest for a bit. Haku and I will take it from here. And it may get messy."

"But…" Toshiro began, beginning to get up. He shouted and fell.

"Toshiro!" Momo shouted.

"See?" Haku said. "You're in no condition to fight. Now…" A black bow lined with silver spiraled into existence in his hand. "We will now commence round two! Prepare yourself, Cipher Admin!"

"Couldn't we think of a better ending…?" Kon wondered.

"You did absolutely nothing in this fight," Uryu noted.

* * *

**Random Bonus Story…XD**

_Location: Outside the homes of Axel Nightblazer and Rinna Skywielder Wilcke_

"WHERE'S THE NEW CHAPTER?" an angry person shouted.

"WHERE'S THE NEW CHAPTER?" "WHERE'S THE NEW CHAPTER?" "WHERE'S THE NEW CHAPTER?" "WHERE'S THE NEW CHAPTER?" "WHERE'S THE NEW CHAPTER?" "WHERE'S THE NEW CHAPTER?" his buddies chorused.

"So…um…heh heh…you must be Axel Nightblazer's and Ice Princess Rinna's most overdemanding fans…" Axel said, a bit terrified of the crowd gathered in front of his house. Especially because they had torches and pitchforks (WTF?).

"Uh…don't worry…" Rinna said, breaking into a cold sweat from a similar crowd on her front door. "I'm sure they're working very hard to make new material…uh, two chapters every month isn't too bad…right?"

"Uh, yeah, heh heh," Axel said, laughing nervously. "Two chapters every month…now how about that?"

"UPDATE!" one fan shouted.

"UPDATE!" "UPDATE!" "UPDATE!" "UPDATE!" "UPDATE!" "UPDATE!" His buddies chorused.

"WAAAAAAAAAH~" Axel and Rinna screamed as the crowds charged in.

"AERON!" Axel shouted, dodging someone throwing torches.

"SISCON!" Rinna shouted, running away from a bunch of dudes with pitchforks.

"IKE!" Aeron shouted, walking out of a door. "Want to play Bad Ax?" He held up an ax.

*insert record scratch here*

All the fans stared at Aeron. Then they ran away screaming.

"DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!" Aeron and Ike shouted, running after them while chopping, veins throbbing on their temples.

* * *

**Moral:**

**Don't ask authors for updates on their work, no matter how much you want the next chapter to come out.**

**They will generally respond not well to it.**

**(clicks teeth)**

* * *

Ben: Hey Axel! (not aware of what just happened) When's the next chapter coming out?

**WHAT'S 2 + 2?**

Ben: Uh…fish?

*insert record scratch here*

**Oh that is **_**IT**_**!**

_**Shadows of the Demon**_

**CANCELLED**

Ben: WHAT? NO NO NO I MEAN IT'S FOUR! No, wait, is it fish? No, it's FOUR! YES! I'M SO SMART! HA HA!

…

Ben: Wait, Shadows of the Demon is canceled? NOOOOOOO-

*insert record scratch here*

You are an idiot! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

**A-HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! JUST KIDDING! I'd NEVER discontinue this story.**

**Yes, this is my worst fear ever: the fans asking for updates. It causes much irritation to people who are asked that question, and rushes them to complete chapters, which will make poor quality work. (I do a lot of rushing myself. And it's NOT a good idea.)**

**For those obnoxious people, I have a message for you. I WORK AT MY OWN PACE. SO DO NOT EXPECT ME TO FINISH **_**SHADOWS OF THE DEMON**_** IF I AM PRODUCING CHAPTERS A TON ONE MONTH, OR THINK I HAVE CANCELED **_**A TALE OF SHINING STARS**_** IF I DO NOTHING ANOTHER MONTH.**

**I felt it was necessary to assert this when my friend (identity concealed) asked me when the next chapter was coming out, and also how much work I was getting done on this chapter. I do not want to be asked these question, so don't ask me them. (glares evilly at friend)**

**If you have anything to ask me OTHER than when the next chapter is coming out, or where I am in the process of writing the next one, please review! I still want your feedback!**

**(Oh yes, and apologies to Ice Princess Rinna for making her OC look like a weakling in the Random Bonus Story.)**

Ben: That joke wasn't funny…D:


	27. Too much stuff gets destroyed

**W00T! ORIGIN CAPTAINS GET AWESOMENESS!**

**Hey, everyone. Sorry it took so long for me to get this out. I tend to find a whole ton of writers block, and that strangely is a result of my writing at blazing speed. Writing so fast is taxing on your idea bank, you know. I'll make it up to you by…FIRIN MAH LAZOR BL-**

**WHACK!**

_STOP IT!_

**OW! AERON, YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO HIT ME! DON'T I HAVE A RIGHT TO GOOF OFF?**

_Look, if you're going to act this way, just start writing the actual chapter. I don't have time to waste, unlike you._

**All right, all right, I'll get to our feature presentation.**

Anabel looked back through the wreckage of the lab. "That's strange," she commented. "Don't you feel any clashing _reiatsu_, Aeron?"

"Yeah," Aeron replied. "But whatever. Let's keep going."

"_What?_" Anabel shouted. "We're just going to ignore it?"

"Yeah," Aeron replied again. "You know Haku and Hyoshiro can take care of themselves. They're Origin Captains."

"Did you call them here?" Anabel asked.

"No, it was a general call for any Origin Captains to come to Sinnoh to pitch in. Apparently, they made it early."

"I see," Anabel said, calming down. "Well, now what're we going to do?"

"First, we find Axel," Aeron said. "Then, we figure that out. I have a feeling what's written on these stone tablets is important…"

"Stone-wait, what?" Anabel frowned, only just noticing the stones Aeron held. When the heck had Aeron snatched those? But more importantly…"What do they want with stone tablets?"

"That're written in ancient Laputian?" Aeron asked. "Who knows. Come on, let's go. Oh, wait-" He pulled something out of his pocket.

Anabel gasped. In front of her was a Pokédex _Ultra_ that was lavender and white. "That's-"

"Your Pokédex Ultra," Aeron finished. "You left it at home, but I grabbed it at the last moment. I reckon you'll need it now."

"Thanks, Aeron," Anabel said, taking it. "Now-"

"PEOPLE!" they heard Ben shout. "YOU'RE SO SLOW! MOVE FASTER!"

"Crap, guess we should get going," Aeron muttered.

"So, our next plan of action is?" Anabel asked as they walked away.

"I just told you we'd come up with it later!" Aeron shouted, annoyed.

"Do you really think you can defeat me?" Luna asked, still as cold as ever. "I just said; I've transcended the _Shinigami_. How can either of you even come to my level if you are one? It's merely impossible. Even if you're as strong as you say you are, the _Shinigami_ will never reach me."

"_Shinigami_?" Haku asked, raising his bow. "You're mistaken. We're not Shinigami." Luna stared at him in shock. "We have Zanpaku-to, yes. And we have a great knowledge of Shinigami techniques and their society, yes. But we ourselves are not Shinigami."

"And you haven't transcended us," Hyoshiro added. "We're in a class of our own, even for our own race. You can't say we've been transcended just because you can pull a fast one over a Shinigami captain."

"And you say this because?" Luna challenged. "I'll prove it to you. Survive the torrents!" She swung her sword, slashing through the air and sending many streams of water surging at the two, with enough force to shatter rocks.

"Look out!" Uryu shouted. He tried to form his bow, forgetting he totally used up all his energy earlier.

"I'm disappointed," Hyoshiro commented. "All this time, and I thought the Admins would be stronger…ah well."

And then all the water streams were frozen. Hyoshiro began to move his sword to point it at Luna, shattering the ice.

"But to be respectful, I'll fight seriously!" he shouted. "_Soten ni zase, Hyorinmaru_!"

"What?" Luna looked visibly surprised. "That's-"

"Another one's _Zanpakuto_?" Hyoshiro finished. "Sorry, I forgot to mention. My _Zanpaku-to_ is the same as Toshiro's."

"But wasn't that deemed impossible before?" Uryu shouted from below. "In the incident with Sojiro Kusaka (see Bleach: The Diamond Dust Rebellion)…"

"It's _not_ impossible," Hyoshiro replied. "It's only extremely rare. And Toshiro and I have the same one. _Zanpaku-to_ are actually their own beings, but they attach themselves to _Shinigami_. They can do it to multiple ones. That's why _Hyorinmaru_ answers to me as well!"

Upon finishing, he swung his sword, sending a wave of ice at Luna, who dodged all of them with midair flips. "Gyarados!" she shouted. A Gyarados burst from the water, raging at Hyoshiro, who was wide open from his slash. And the chain at his hilt wasn't fully extended…

"Now I have to watch your back, eh?" Haku drew his bow, and then fired a white arrow. In the next second, Gyarados was down.

"What? He finished off this Gyarados just like that?" Izuru shouted. "And this one is many times stronger than usual…"

"What? You act as if you're seeing my power for the first time," Haku said.

"Actually, I am," Izuru said. (He was always somewhere else when Haku was using it.)

"Oh," Haku said. "Right." He turned back to Luna. "Now-wait, what the-?"

A swarm of angry Sharpedo suddenly burst from the water, water streaming around them with Aqua Jets. They had murderous looks in their eyes…and a thirst for blood! (Just kidding, a thirst for blood's so scary even I'm freaked out. ^_^)

Haku drew his bow. "Regular arrows should be enough," he decided. He fired many white arrows from his bow, which struck the Pokémon and sent them spiraling downwards, unconscious.

Luna thrust her sword out. From the water below, columns of water began to rise, and she leaped at the two, sword flashing wickedly in the light.

"Here we go!" Hyoshiro shouted. He spun his sword in his hand, sending the chain flying as it extended even farther from his hilt.

"What?" Luna shouted. The chain lashed around her sword, whirling around a catwalk, spiraling upwards to wrap around a light, then down towards the floor. Haku shot an arrow where it was headed, allowing it to loop back up towards the catwalks, and impaling itself in the wall. All this left Luna's sword entangled from many angles.

Hyoshiro swept his hand across the blade, flashing it a pale cerulean. The chain flashed with that same color, freezing anything the chain was entangled to.

The entire room, and all the water in the area, was iced over in seconds.

"What-ice?" Luna shouted. "Impossible! How can this be?"

"Do you want to try to defy our logic anymore?" Haku asked. "_Licte Ricchen_ (Light Rain)!" He pulled back, generating a white arrow, and then he released it, sending…oh, about 1,000 arrows down on one single point. Per second.

Luna jumped back, allowing them to strike the floor. I don't think she counted on the explosion.

**BOOOOOM!**

Haku quickly followed up by blasting several arrows at random angles. And then they bounced off the walls/ceiling/floor in several places, all flying at Luna. She dodged one, but a second made its mark, hurling her into the wall. The third, the fourth, the fifth, they all were bare misses.

One hurtled past Hyoshiro's head. "Dude, watch it," he said, raising his sword. "You could've hit me there."

"That's because I _missed_," Haku shot back. "Now…" He began shooting a volley of _black_ arrows this time.

"Black arrows?" Luna shouted. "What's going on? What are you? I thought you were a _Quincy_, and yet-"

"Well, the truth is," Haku said, walking forward, "my _Zanpaku-to's _powers are like that of a _Quincy's_."

"And he has Light and Dark powers on top of that," Hyoshiro added. "Wait, why the heck are we just sitting around and talking?"

*insert record scratch here*

"Um…" everyone said.

"Well, _I'm_ shooting," Haku said, breaking the silence. "And you, Hyoshiro?"

"Why did you ask?" Hyoshiro replied. "If you haven't noticed, your arrows are beginning to ice over."

"Wait, what?" Uryu asked. "Why're they icing over?"

"Behold," Hyoshiro said, raising his sword. "_Hyorinmaru_!" The serpent/dragon/whatever you want to call it of ice spiraled out of his blade, blasting through the ceiling and exposing it to the sky. And outside, snow was falling in thick, large flakes.

"It's snowing?" Izuru looked puzzled. "But it's April, not to mention extremely hot (how about 32 degrees Celsius?). Which means…"

"Yes," Hyoshiro said. "This is _Tenso Jurin_ (The Heaven's Subjugation), my control over weather."

"So you can change the weather with your power," Luna noted. "But it still won't-wait, what?" She looked down. Her feet were frozen to the floor, and, well, everything was icing over even more now.

"Now's our chance!" Haku declared. He fired many arrows, now some white and some black. They raced towards Luna, who quickly spun her sword in front of her, deflecting most of the arrows. Some flew into the ice at her feet, but that only served to free her from it. She jumped into the air, pointed her sword at him, and blasted water at him. Hyoshiro quickly froze it, then jumped off the frozen water jet and brought his sword down in a cleaving attack. Luna sidestepped, and then somersaulted onto another catwalk as the one she had been on fell to pieces.

Hyoshiro leaped after her, slicing. Luna parried the first attack, dodged the next, then thrust her sword at him, which he dodged, and then he sent the chain flying at her, but she blocked that with her scabbard, and kicked hard, nailing him in the chin. That allowed her to slice again at him, but then Haku fired an arrow, knocking her back. He proceeded to fire several arrows at her, which she all blocked by swinging her scabbard.

Hyoshiro quickly followed by sending _Hyorinmaru_ surging at her, but she blasted a stream of water into its side to divert its course. Luna then unleashed a torrent at Hyoshiro, which he froze, but while he was freezing it, she surged at him, shattering the ice. Her sword raced at his face, him being wide open…

"No!" Momo shouted. "She's going to slash him! If this connects, it's all over!"

Suddenly, a white object blasted forward, knocking the sword off course and planting it into the catwalk, breaking it. Hyoshiro and Luna jumped away quickly.

"Will they stop breaking everything?" Uryu shouted, sidestepping some debris. It cracked the ice, gushing water out immediately.

_Now!_ Luna thought. She thrust her hand out, blasting torrents of water at Haku.

"Shame," Haku said. "You didn't even see how I deflected the sword. Let me show you again."

And he finished this while pulled from his belt a black, rectangular object with white lines running along it, and a rectangular hole at the end. One line ran from end to end, another was 5 mm from the hole, and the last one mirrored the one outside the hole.

"What? That's-" began Uryu.

"_Seele Schneider_ (That which slits the soul)," Haku finished. A white blade blazed out of the end without the hole, vibrating with energy. "Or rather, my unique ones."

"_Seele Schneider_?" Luna said. "What's special about it?" She sent a whip of water whirling at him after finishing.

"I'll show you," Haku replied, putting his finger in the notch. The string of his bow ran through it, and white came out of the hole from 3 different angles (perpendicular to each other), and the white blade on the other end lengthened to well over a meter. "Sword or arrow? It can be either."

Haku let go. The arrow flew, hitting the water and immediately dispelling it into the air. It surged towards Luna, hitting her in the chest and impaling her to the wall, immediately knocking her out.

"It's done," Haku declared, and he walked over to Luna. "Hyoshiro…"

"Right," Hyoshiro said. He waved _Hyorinmaru_, freezing Luna in place. The Seele Schneider's energy receded into the…hilt thing, and it clattered to the floor, nothing more than a piece of metal now. Haku walked over and picked it up.

"We're finished here," he said. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"And then I can write a report to Soul Society on this," Toshiro said, getting up. He jumped all the way to one of the last remaining catwalks.

Which broke as soon as he stepped on it, because everyone else did the exact same thing at the exact same time.

"CRAAAAAAAP!" everyone shouted as they fell back into the water.

_30 minutes later…_

"Huh?" Axel turned when he heard running feet. "Hey, someone's coming." (No duh, dork.)

It was Aeron and the others. "Sorry it took us so long to get out, Axel," Aeron said. "We kind of ran into an Admin there."

"I thought so," Axel said. "That would explain your _Bankai_ being released."

"Well, anyway, we got some serious business here," Aeron said. "We found these stone tablets, and-"

"So _this_ is where you guys were!" they heard. Hyoshiro and Haku came into the area as well. "_Finally_! Do you have any idea what bull(explicative removed) we went through to find you guys?" Hyoshiro demanded.

"It seems you went through a lot, given the _reiatsu_," Anabel replied.

"Hey, who are these people?" Sam asked. "They've got the same outfit as Axel and Aeron."

"They're real heroes, that's who they are," Axel said before anyone could say anything. "Say, I felt some other people's presence. Who-?"

"That would be us," they heard. Uryu came into the clearing, followed by-oh, I'll just say everyone else. "It's been a while, Axel. And Aeron"

"Ah, Uryu, Chad, Orihime," Axel said. "And Momo and Izuru as well. Oh, and Volkner."

"Been a while, huh?" Volkner said. "Unfortunately, Cipher's havoc reached Sunyshore, so I had to leave."

"And what of Volticron?" Axel asked, ignoring Sam and Ben, who seemed confused about that. "Didn't you leave him in the temple?"

"Yeah," Volkner said. "Seems I'm gonna have to go back now."

"You probably should," Axel agreed. "Wait, where's Ichigo?"

"We _were_ having a bit of a vacation," Uryu said. "But then suddenly Soul Society sent a report and Ichigo, Renji and Rukia went off to carry it out."

"Ichigo following orders?" Aeron asked, amused. "He's broken them most of the time."

"Well, it was mostly Rukia's idea," Orihime said. "Wait, where'd Kon go?"

_-Flashback-_

Kon suddenly randomly went flying as Hyoshiro used _Tenso Jurin_. "WHY-?" he shouted.

**I decided to take you out of the story, dork. It just occurred to me how having OVER 9000 characters can ruin it.**

"BUT WE HAVEN'T EVEN REACHED 8000!" Kon shouted before disappearing over the horizon.

_-Flashback ends-_

"Oh," Orhime said. "Wait, and Toshiro?"

"He's writing his report to Soul Society," Izuru replied. "He'll join us shortly."

"So, Aeron, what do these tablets say?" Axel asked.

Aeron looked at them. "They talk about hidden altars to the Elementals-wait! Those temples are designed to keep the balance of the world, of light and darkness. Which means…"

"They want to tip the balance in Shadow's favor," Hanna finished. "Which means we need to stop them from getting to the temples."

"Aeron, where are the temples?" Cynthia asked. Axel looked at her in surprise, apparently not aware Cynthia was present.

"Let's see…" Aeron said. "It says that one is at Eterna City-been there already-one under the Snowpoint Ruins, one deep underneath Oreburgh Mine, one in Iron Island, one high above Sunyshore, and-what?"

"What?" Sam asked. "Where's the last one in Sinnoh?"

"It says 'where the land meets the heavens'," Aeron said, a look of blank confusion on his face. "Where's that?"

"We'll find out later," Axel said. "In the meantime, I guess we'd better split up and confront Cipher, wherever they are."

"In that case," Volkner said. "I have even _more_ reason to head back to Sunyshore. I'll reclaim Voltikron and protect it from Cipher at all costs."

"I'll come with him," Uryu volunteered. "Chad, Orihime, you guys can come, right?"

Chad nodded. "But…we still need to let Ichigo know."

"We could send that in Toshiro's report to Soul Society, and then Kuchiki and Renji would know," Momo suggested.

"I think that'd work," Axel said. "Go tell him, Momo. Oh, and could you, Izuru, Toshiro, and Hyoshiro head to Oreburgh?"

"Sure," Momo said. Izuru and Hyoshiro nodded in agreement.

"I'll accompany Volkner," Haku said. "Besides, you never know what might be in store at the altar…"

"I'll head to Snowpoint," Sam said. "Anyone else coming?"

"Ben, Cynthia, you two head with him," Axel said. "And Sam," he added as Sam opened his mouth, "no 'Real Hero' stuff. It'll hinder us."

"What? How will telling the truth-"

"I'll go back to Eterna with Aerín," Anabel said. "We'll keep the altar safe from further attacks."

"I will keep repeating the signal," Axel said. "Hopefully, we can rally more Origin Captains. Aeron, Hanna, you two will accompany me to Iron Island, right?"

"Yeah," Aeron said. "Wait, shouldn't we be moving now?"

"Probably," Haku said. "Everyone, let's start moving!"

"I lost the Game!" Axel suddenly shouted randomly.

*insert record scratch here*

Everyone stopped. Then they all started freaking out in utter rage, except for Aerín, who doesn't know what the Game is.

"Haha, it's fun doing this," Axel laughed, ignoring Aeron running towards him with a gravity hammer. Suddenly, there was a hand on his shoulder. "Huh?"

Anabel spun him around to face her. She smiled at him…a creepy smile. Then she drew her hand back…

"Oh, crap," Axel said. He quickly wrote something on a paper, folded it into a paper airplane, and threw it at Aeron.

Aeron caught it out of the air, and unfolded it. "What is it?" Ben asked.

"Let's see…" Aeron fully unfolded it, revealing the words:

_Axel Nightblazer's Will_

"It seems Axel is having a final encounter with fate," Aeron sighed as Anabel whipped her hand at Axel.

**KA-RACK!**

_It's an Epic Win!_

**I will end the chapter here while Axel is put back together.**

**Random Bonus Story…XD**

_Location: Aeron's home_

"Ah, time for a nice nap," Axel said. "Yawn…" He dropped onto the floor, lay down, and fell asleep quickly.

**BUT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WALL!**

Ben was whistling as he carried a large, rolled-up poster towards the wall. "Here we go," he said, unrolling it on the wall.

There were three targets of varying size on it.

Ben pulled out a tape dispenser. "Now it's time to stick it to the wall! Aeron'll be so jealous of how well I do it!"

"I HEARD THAT!" a shout came from another room.

Ben looked in that direction. "NOBODY ASKED YOU!" he shouted, then got to work.

**30 SECONDS LATER!**

Excessive amounts of tape were put in random locations around the edges of the poster, but it was able to keep it in place.

"Done!" Ben shouted. "Time for target practice!" He grabbed a Beam Rifle (OH MY GOSH IT'S A COVENANT WEAPON!) and walked away from the wall.

"Zzzz…" Axel slept on, not aware of what would happen next.

"Lalala~" Ben stopped about 5 meters away from the wall, and turned. "YAAAH!" he shouted, pulling the trigger and firing a blue laser.

It hilariously missed the target by a good 50 cm. But remember what's on the other side of the wall?

"WAAAAAAAH!" Axel shouted, jumping up as the laser burned through the wall at the place where he had just been.

Ben fired two more blasts, both missing by so much it was sad, but the second penetrated one of the outer rings of a target.

"GAH! WHOA!" Axel shouted, hurling himself to the ground to avoid the attack. "WHOEVER'S SHOOTING, CUT IT OUT!"

"I wonder what that screaming noise is?" Ben wondered as he squeezed off three more attacks, each piercing through the wall…too far away from the target.

"AUGH! WAH! D'OH!" Axel shouted, hitting his head on the floor as he tried to flip out of the way of one, then duck under the second, then somersault over the third.

"Gah, I keep missing," Ben muttered, and sent five more beams spiraling at the targets.

"OH MY (explicative removed) GOD!" Axel shouted, throwing his body into some random nonsensical position, and the beams barely missed his _body_, although they burned through his clothes just millimeters away from his arms/leg/head/chest. "JUST STOP SHOOTING ALREADY!"

Ben just kept firing, and Axel kept dodging. Eventually, Axel just flung himself to the floor to avoid it all.

Ben fired a shot, blasting through an outer ring. He pulled the trigger once more, but nothing came out. "What the-?" He opened the hatch on top and pulled out a glowing green cartridge. "Dang, out of batteries." He pulled out a new cartridge, blue this time, and inserted it into the Beam Rifle.

Axel began to get up. "I think it's over now…" he muttered, relieved.

"Finished!" Ben shouted. He flipped the hatch shut, pointed it at the wall, and fired.

"NOOOOOO!" Axel shouted, leaping over the attack.

On the second floor, Ben was being watched by Silver and Sam.

"What's he doing?" Sam wondered.

"I don't know," Silver replied. "But we're going to have to pay a massive repair bill if we don't stop him. So let's do it."

"Right," Sam said, and they raised their hands. Blue (Sam) and red (Silver) spheres generated in their hands…

Ben was firing. "Getting closer to the bullseye (but not by much)…" he muttered. Suddenly, twin blasts of fire and ice hit him from behind. "D'OH!" Ben shouted, getting smashed into the ground and knocked him out immediately.

"Hey, let's see how much damage he made," Sam said.

"Sure," Silver replied. They jumped all the way down to the bottom floor, and immediately got a good look at the destruction. And the targets, which only had their outer rings penetrated. With burning holes.

"Urgh…I think it's over…" Axel muttered, beginning to get up again. "What was that anyway?"

Axel walked over to the other side of the wall, and was immediately greeted with Sam and Silver hysterically laughing about Ben's bad aim.

"Wha-OH THAT IS _IT_!" Axel shouted, and he launched a kick at Silver's chin, smashing him into a wall.

"GOH!" Silver's cry came long after he hit the wall, along with lots of sound. (Sound barrier breakage! :O)

"What? Axel?" Sam shouted. "What are you-"

"I KILL YOU ALL!" Axel shouted, and he slugged Sam, who didn't even have time to make a noise before he went flying.

Axel turned back to the wall. "Hm, so they were doing target practice with a Beam Rifle," he said, noting the burning holes. "But couldn't they have done it somewhere else?" He noticed where the burn marks were. "And more importantly, who has aim as bad as this?"

He turned around to see Sam and Silver slumped against walls, knocked out…and Ben lying on the floor, unconscious as well. With the Beam Rifle.

*insert guitar string snapping here*

"Oh my god, I hit the wrong people," Axel groaned, face-palming himself.

Ben suddenly woke up. "YAAAAAH!" he shouted, suddenly getting up and squeezing off a shot.

"WHOA!" Axel shouted, and he threw his hand out and matrix-style dodged the laser, allowing it to hit the bulls-eye.

"YES! I HIT THE BULLSEYE!" Ben shouted. "I'M SO AWESOME! WOO!"

Axel slowly straightened, darkness over his eyes. "Ben…"

"Oh, hey, Axel," Ben said, trying to hide his getting creeped out by Axel. "Were you the guy screaming on the other side of the wall? I thought it was my gun…"

Axel turned in a painfully slow fashion, reaching into his pocket…and pulling out his Duel Monster Cards.

"WHAT? NO NO NO NO NO STOP!" Ben shouted.

"I summon my Dark Magician, my Elemental Hero Neos, and my Stardust Dragon!" Axel shouted, very ticked off. "Then I activate Neos Spiral Force, which doubles Stardust's attack! (Stardust Dragon: 5000 attack) And my Dark Spiral Force, which doubles Stardust's attack again! (Stardust Dragon: 10000)"

"OH MY GOD THAT GUY'S ATTACK IS OVER 9000!" Ben shouted.

"GO, STARDUST DRAGON!" Axel shouted. "OWN THAT GUY! SHOOTING…SONIC!"

Stardust Dragon began to gather dark purple, silver, and pale blue light in a sphere in front of his mouth. Then he fired it in a lazor at Ben!

"WHAT THE FU-"

**BOOOOOOM!**

Aeron's entire house was demolished in the blast.

"AXEL!" Aeron shouted loudly.

**Moral: Don't use Stardust Dragon to hit people. He's so pwnsome, he'll cause mass destruction.**

**YES, PEOPLE, I LIKE **_**Yu-Gi-Oh!**_**. GO AHEAD AND SAY YOU HATE ME FOR IT, BUT DON'T CALL ME GAY JUST BECAUSE I LIKE IT. AND DON'T CALL **_**Yu-Gi-Oh!**_** GAY UNLESS ALL YOU'VE BEEN WATCHING IS THE TERRIBLE VERSION OF **_**5Ds**_** THAT 4Kids RELEASED.**

_They're not gonna call you gay just because you like card games on motorcycles, you know._

Jack Atlas: CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES BL-

**BLAAAAARRRRGGHH!**

_It's an Epic Win!_

**Oh, yes, and apologies to whoever plays the Game. I just **_**had**_** to do it, given that I am a total jerk. XD**

_It's worse that you made _me_ lose, too._

**Shut up, Aeron.**

_WHAT?_

**WHAT!**

_YOU LITTLE-! IMMA FIRIN _MAH_ LAZOR BLAAAAARRRRGGHH!_


	28. Sam has too many Pokemon

_**Shadows of the Demon**_** has been out for a long time, huh? But I have bad news for all of you: The end of it is in sight. Because I've planned out-**

Jack Atlas: CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCL-WHAT THE- AARRGGGHH!

**(Puts Gravity Hammer away) I've planned out the rest, but whether it's actually GOOD or not is for you to judge.**

**Axel and Aeron MAY appear less for the chapters to come, and you probably won't be seeing as many new characters from here on out. I've come to realize the critical error in putting in too many characters.**** Also, because I decided my brain was taking too much damage through the Elemental scenes, I totally redid what happens when they appear on scene.**

**So then. As we rush towards the end, get ready for the rest of the story to play out. It'll be over before you can believe it.**

* * *

"Couldn't we just _walk_ to the ferry?" Hanna shouted over the wind.

"Meh, this way is faster!" Axel said. "And it requires less effort." He quickly stuffed a lot of ramen in his mouth as soon as he finished talking.

Axel, Aeron, and Hanna were all headed to Iron Island. But due to Axel's being a lazy bum, they took their motorcycles. Hanna rode on the back of Aeron's motorcycle, and Axel...uh...had a completely different motorcycle.

Most of all, it was a motorcycle on which people could play card games. **Wait, OH CRAP!**

Jack Atlas: CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES!

**SHUT UP! (whacks Jack Atlas with a stick)**

"Is it really necessary to eat ramen while driving a motorcycle?" Aeron asked. "That's an extremely bad idea, you know."

"What? It's _good_ ramen!" Axel protested. "And I'm lucky I got it, 'cause it was the last one in the Pokemart!"

"What kind of ramen is it?" Hanna asked.

"Oh, it's called 'Red Demon's Noodle'," Axel replied. "And it's really good!"

"YOU!" Jack Atlas shouted, suddenly coming out of a rift and pointing at Axel.

"Uh...what?" Axel said.

"SINCE WHEN DO YOU EAT MY RED DEMON'S NOODLE?" Jack shouted. "IT'S THE LAST ONE! GIVE IT BACK! NOW! SO I CAN PLAY CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES!"

"Nah," Axel said. "I bought it. So it's mine. Deal with it, Atlas."

"OH THAT'S IT!" Jack shouted. "WITNESS MY CREATION SHAKING POWER!" He drew his fist back, and suddenly a (crude) picture of wings appeared on that arm. "ATLAS PUNCH!"

**BOOOOOOM!**

"Ha!" Jack shouted. "Wait, what?"

"Ha! Caught it!" Ben shouted, holding Jack's fist in his hand.

"Wait, BEN? WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?" Axel shouted. "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO GO TO SNOWPOINT!"

"Well, I magically appeared here," Ben said. "Now then..." He turned back to Jack. "Atlas Recoil."

**BOOOOOM!**

"WAAAAAAH~" Jack got sent to a distant galaxy.

"Yeah!" Ben shouted. "It wor-"

_Ben took 1 recoil damage._

"Ow," Ben said in some way that made it sound more painful than it was. "No effect…" He dusted himself off, despite not having any dust on himself. Then he said in a more cheerful way (little boy like) "No effect! =D"

"Uh, so, are you gonna go now?" Axel asked. "Cause, I kinda can't see when you'll get there there…"

"Hold on," Ben said. He grabbed Axel's cup ramen, ate all the ramen, and then disappeared mysteriously after saying "Okay that's it, bye." The empty cup landed right in front of Axel.

"Awwww," Axel complained.

* * *

_Elsewhere…_

Sam and Ben (who mysteriously appeared with Sam) were pigging out at some fast food restaurant. Cynthia, who only got ONE burger, just stared at them. "Uh…how many burgers and French Fries have you burned through already?"

"9001," Ben replied offhandedly. "And that's individually." He immediately went back to eating some chicken nuggets.

"Hey, shouldn't our stomachs not be able to hold so much food?" Sam asked through a mouthful of burger whatever.

"Well, that's just because we're awesome," Ben replied. "Or at least I am."

"Hey, don't we have to save the world?" Cynthia interrupted. "Or stop people who are going to take it over?"

Sam and Ben both stopped. They simultaneously and immediately gulped.

* * *

_One nanosecond later…_

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!" Ben and Sam shouted in perfect unison as they ran to Snowpoint, already 5 km away from the fast food restaurant.

Cynthia (still at the fast food restaurant) stared after them. "Um, hey…" She sighed and just brought out Garchomp to get there faster.

* * *

_STILL elsewhere…_

"So, now what do we do?" Ash asked.

"We should probably go to other cities to help against Cipher," Candice replied. "I thought you'd think of that."

"Oh, yeah," Ash said lamely. "Wait, Paul, what do you think?"

"Seems like a good plan," Paul replied. "After all, Cipher could be a serious threat if it managed to take control of every city."

Ash sighed. He had decided things were getting too dangerous after Cipher had thrown out an all-out assault with LEGENDARY Pokémon and sent Dawn and Brock back home. Ichigo, Renji, and Rukia had also split off from the group to contact Soul Society, though they said they'd be back so-

Suddenly, Japanese doors appeared in the air in front of them. Then Ichigo, Renji, and Rukia came out. "We're back," Renji announced.

"WAHH!" Ash shouted, jumping back. "YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO JUST APPEAR RANDOMLY!"

"Sorry," Ichigo said. "But apparently, we have another mission now."

"And what's that?" Paul asked. "We defeat Cipher, right?"

"That's how the whole thing works out," Rukia replied. "But our mission is just one step towards that. Because…" Rukia's voice dropped to a low whisper. "Shadow Pokémon are appearing in large numbers in one area."

"They're gathering?" Ash asked. "Why?"

"No, they're not gathering," Ichigo said, shaking his head. "They're just appearing where a normal Pokémon once was."

"Wait, so you mean…" Candice began.

"Yeah," Renji nodded. "We think this is where they make Shadow Pokémon."

"In that case, we'd better destroy it right now!" Candice shouted.

"But Soul Society's taken further steps to destroy it," Rukia called.

"Further steps?" Paul asked. "What, did they send an army?"

"Yes, but just to combat a large army of Cipher Peons," Rukia said. "Meanwhile, they deployed directly at the Shadow Pokémon factory…"

* * *

_At said factory__…_

The Japanese doors appeared once more, and then slid open to reveal two men in black robes and white _haori_. But on one's _haori_ was the _kanji_ for 6, and the other the _kanji_ for 11.

The one with "6" on his back had a white scarf, white fingerless gloves that extended beyond his wrists, and white ornaments in his black hair that divided the hair above his forehead and the sides of his head into 3 parts. His expression revealed a rather quiet, dignified man.

The other one…well, his _haori_ was rather ragged, and the first thing you'd notice about him was all the scars on his body. He also had black hair, but it was arranged in 9 spikes that extended away from his head and back, with bells tied at the end of each spike. (Don't EVEN ask.) He wore an eyepatch over one eye, but his other eye showed a lust for battle.

Both of them carried a sword. The one with the scarf had one in a pink scabbard (Again, don't EVEN ask.) and had a strange window frame-like guard. The one with an eyepatch lacked a scabbard altogether, instead having a long piece of cloth wrapped around his blade. The guard…uh…I don't know how to describe it.

Anyone who saw them probably would probably run home screaming. The one with the scarf was Kuchiki Byakuya, the Captain of 6th Company in the Thirteen Royal Guard Companies. The one with the eyepatch was Zaraki Kenpachi, the Captain of 11th Company in said group.

"Hmph," Kenpachi snorted, looking around. "I don't see anything impressive. Did they deploy us to the wrong place?"

"They couldn't possibly have been wrong," Byakuya replied. "Just be grateful we didn't appear over a lake of acid."

"Actually, that wouldn't have been too bad," Kenpachi said. "What would've been _really _bad is if we appeared _in_ the acid."

"That _is_ true," Byakuya agreed. "Now, shall we try to find out where our target is?"

"Well, I'm not good at detecting _reiatsu_," Kenpachi admitted. "So, you try and figure out."

"Interesting. So you use me in places where you are incompetent? Know your place."

"My place, huh?" Kenpachi growled.

"Enough," Byakuya said. "Now, where is it?" He looked around. That was strange, there was no sign of a factory around. Only trees, grass, Pokémon, a trail of smoke…

Smoke?

"Zaraki," Byakuya said to get his partner's attention. "What do you think is making all that smoke?"

"Oh, hey, my opinion is asked for!" Kenpachi said, trying to sound enthusiastic for no apparent reason. "Maybe they're burning something. Humans do that a lot for energy."

"Energy, eh?" Byakuya said. "Like the energy to power a factory?"Kenpachi nodded at that.

Then it sank in.

"Hey, you couldn't be saying…?" Kenpachi asked.

"Let's get up that hill and see," Byakuya said. He began to climb up a hill, which seemed to emit the smoke from its other side.

They reached the top of the hill. "Whoa," Kenpachi said. "That's big."

"Clearly, they have no consideration for the environment," Byakuya observed.

The factory was really big, as Kenpachi said, and spewing out a LOT of smoke. It appeared to be inside a glass diamond shaped-crystal, although both _Shinigami_ figured there was a stronger, unseen defense. The water around the whole thing was purple and murky, no doubt more of the factory's waste.

"We have to invade _this_?" Kenpachi said. "Looks like the "Lake of Acid" thing just became reality!"

"At least there's a path to the gate," Byakuya pointed. "Shall we go?"

* * *

_Elsewhere yet AGAIN__…_

"So, what do you want to do while we wonder what Axel's doing?" Kotone asked.

"I don't know, just not sitting here!" Silver shouted. "It feels stupid just sitting around here all the time! We should be doing…something…to fight Cipher!"

"So, what _do_ we do?" Kotone asked. "Other than rant all day and night."

"I say we leave to go figure out what the crap Cipher's been doing!" Silver declared. "That way, we can-"

"Hey, what's all the yelling about?" Anabel suddenly asked, appearing from the trees with Aerín. (Don't ask how they got back to Eterna so fast, while Axel and co. are going from CANALAVE to the ferry to IRON ISLAND on MOTORCYCLES and STILL AREN'T THERE. Let's just say this: THEY USED MAGIC.) "I'm pretty sure Eterna's been quiet during my time here."

"What-Anabel?" Silver said, surprised. "I thought you were at the Hoenn Battle Frontier!"

"Yes," Anabel said. "But then Aeron, Aerín and I decided to go on vacation to visit Axel here, and…it didn't go too well. With Cipher and all…"

"It'll be going even worse," they all suddenly heard. They all turned and were greeted by an explosion.

"Whoa!" Silver shouted, shielding himself with fire. "What the heck was that?"

"I came back to Eterna, that's what. And more importantly…" A guy with a helmet, black pants, a blue shirt with ARCTIC on it, and a BAZOOKA came out of the smoke. "I brought an army this time."

"Okay, who is this guy?" Kotone asked. "And more importantly, why does he have a bazooka?"

"That's Frostelius!" Anabel said. "What're you doing here again?"

"I had orders to secure the Sanctuary of Grass," Frostelius said calmly. "And I will accomplish my mission, no matter what. Besides, you're already too late."

"Too late? What're you talking about?" Silver demanded.

"I've sent men into the Sanctuary already," Frostelius explained. "And I have 100 men here." He gestured at all the Cipher Peons behind him. "You've lost, unless you have a miracle."

"Auntie, what do we do?" Aerín asked.

"Aerín, you'll have to go to the Sanctuary yourself," Anabel told her. "Kotone, Silver, and I must fight…them," she said, gesturing at the army. "We'll buy you time. Now, go!"

"R-right!" Aerín shouted, running back into the trees. A bunch of Cipher Peons ran after her instantly. Aerín turned around and threw a Pokéball. "Go!"

A Tropius appeared, then used Solarbeams (it was sunny) to beat back the Cipher Peons. Aerín called Tropius back and ran off again.

"Keep going after her!" Frostelius ordered the 10 men who ran after her. "And, you!" He pointed at 10 other men. "Go after that little girl as well!" They complied immediately.

"Twenty men after one little girl. Was that necessary?" Kotone asked.

"It doesn't matter. 80 men is enough to crush you." Frostelius leveled his bazooka. "I will tear apart all of your possibilities, no matter what."

"We'll see about that!" Anabel shouted, and she brought out her Pokédex Ultra. "Come on, Seishira!" she whispered, thumbing the button and causing the _kanji_ for "mind" to appear.

What appeared to be a human female appeared on the screen. Anabel pulled the Pokédex back, whipped it behind her and her free hand in front, and a lavender sphere appeared in her hand with the _kanji_ for "mind" on it. Anabel raised the sphere, then brought it and the Pokédex together, sending brilliant lavender sparks everywhere.

"Come forth, my friend!" Anabel shouted. "Psychic Elemental Ressurection!" She brought the two apart, giving birth to a storm of lavender light.

Soon, the light began to fade, revealing a pale, disturbingly human white face that with eyes of lavender was set upon a head that possessed lavender hair and a pair of ears that spiked backwards in two points. Thread-like purple lines dripped like tears from her eyes to either side of her chin, in a similar manner to the face of Ulquiorra Schiffer. The eeriest thing was that this face lacked a mouth. She wore a strange tiara that possessed a gently pulsing amethyst, which also held two locks of her hair in long streaks that draped over the front of either one of her shoulders.

Her arms were just as pale as her face, with form-fitting purple elbow-length fingerless gauntlets that featured diamond-shaped openings in the back of her arm near her elbows and in the backs and palms of her hand, revealing round sapphires embedded in the arms and hands underneath. Four ribbon-like appendages similar to Suicune's tails emerged from the back of her white dress and appeared to be suspended in the air, each one angling forward from either side of her, one from below and one from above, with a pearly iridescence that one could catch flashes of green, blue, and pink within. From a belt cinched at her waist dangled all the way to the bottom of her flowing skirt a strip of cloth that was elaborately patterned, with a square that featured the kanji for "mind" in the center.

Anabel, or the figure that _used_ to be Anabel, descended upon a glowing lavender circle labeled _Psychic _from her evolution, and stopped just before touching the ground. She spun around in a dance-like move, filling the air with blindingly fast slashes from her "ribbon" appendages, before flaring them out in four directions, still waving in the wind, and striking a battle pose, like most superheroes do. "_Anticipate, Oracle Seishira!_"

"Oh boy," Silver commented, looking as Seishira descended a little from her "Evolution Dimension." "Anabel's gone Elemental. That's not good for him."

"An Elemental?" Frostelius noted. "But you'll never be able to stop me." He raised his bazooka and immediately fired several missiles.

Seishira just watched them come. Then, with no apparent motion on her part other than looking at them, they suddenly whirled in midair right back at the one who had fired them.

"Wha-?" Frostelius shouted before they exploded. "They shouldn't have-how did they fly back at _me_? There's no way for them to completely reverse direction!"

_Is there a way?_ Seishira replied, though Frostelius felt a chill-not of cold, but because he couldn't understand where it was coming from. It was coming from…inside his head? He whirled around, looking if there was any type of trick.

_There__'s no trick._ Frostelius turned once more, and then felt even more fear. Because all around him, dresses and ribbons swaying eerily peacefully in the wind, were _hundreds_ of the spectral Elemental, each one gazing at him with unreadable ice-cold eyes.

"Hey, why does he look so spooked?" Kotone asked. "He looks as if he's seeing a ghost."

"Or _many_ ghosts," Silver corrected. "Have you noticed how he's wildly spinning around, and what he's saying?"

"Wha…wha…what's going on?" Frostelius shouted, voice tainted with fear. "How are there so many of you? How…how…"

_Frostelius,_ he heard. Once again, he spun to hear where it came from, but he couldn't tell once more. _What's wrong? I'm a Psychic Elemental, not a ghost. And for your information, I use telepathy to communicate._

"D-d-don't psyche me out!" Frostelius shouted. "My men, get her! Now! Destroy all of them!"

But nothing happened. The Cipher Peons appeared not to move. They didn't even seem to be aware of anything.

Frostelius stared at them long and hard, before finally going berserk and shooting ice in all directions, spearing every one of the "Seishiras" and screaming in rage.

_You can__'t defeat me, Frostelius_, he heard once more. _And you never will._

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" Frostelius screamed at the top of his lungs, as the madness continued.

But the bystanders were seeing a very different thing. All they saw was one Seishira, standing several meters away from Frostelius, who was glowing lavender. But Frostelius was screaming that there were many of her, and shooting bazooka shells everywhere. The Cipher Peons were confused by his behavior, and also surprised he'd shoot at them.

"Frostelius, sir, calm down!" a Cipher Peon shouted, running closer. "You're going to destroy-"

"GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU WITCH!" Frostelius shouted, shooting him and sending the Cipher Peon flying back.

"Whoa. I think things are getting a little out of hand now," Kotone commented. "Silver, what should we do?"

"Well, while we're here, I guess we should take the town over," a Cipher Peon suggested. "Come on, guys, let's go!"

Kotone and Silver looked at each other and nodded. Then they brought out their Pokédex Ultras, and thumbed the button. But then, Silver's didn't light up with the red _kanji_ for "fire". Instead, it lit up with an indigo _kanji_ for "dragon". "Let's go, Drakanohi!" Silver declared.

A roaring dragon outlined in indigo appeared on the Pokédex Ultra as Silver pulled it back. Then an indigo sphere with "_ryu_ (dragon in _kanji_)" appeared. Silver crossed his arms before pulling them, wrist before hands, back towards each other and smashing the two together.

"Come forth, my friend!" Silver shouted. "Dragon Elemental Ressurection!" As soon as he said that, indigo fire wreathed him.

The flames began to take shape into a heavily muscled, clawed arm with spikes lining the back of his arm, and a deep red gem appearing on the shoulder. A long tail with many spikes running down its back rapidly materialized, and clawed feet took form to precedent "armored" thighs with the knees adorned with diamond-shaped armor and a spike on each thigh pointing up. Two deep red gems on the dragon's chest appeared, and still more spikes ran up his back. Four great wings unfolded, each one something like bat wings with spikes on the edges. The spikes continued up his neck all the way to the head, which was streamlined backwards and featured fin-like protrusions on the sides of the head.

The dragon, still wreathed in fire, blasted upwards before soaring across the sky, and then, spiraling and shining, roaring and streaking, dove downwards at alarming speed before landing on an indigo platform with "Dragon" in _kanji_ on it, spreading its wings, and throwing its arms out, expelling all the indigo flames on its body, revealing a deep violet and indigo color scheme, sans the gems. The dragon roared, blasting flames everywhere. "Soar, Ascendant Drakanohi!"

Kotone's Pokedex displayed a green outline of a fearsome Pokemon. With the shield transformed into energy and transferred to the Pokedex, Kotone pulled it back and whirled around, bringing her other hand up. A green sphere flared to life in it. She spread her arms out and then thrust the sphere and the Pokedex together.

"Come forth, my friend!" she shouted. "Grass Elemental Resurrection!"

Pulling the Dex away from the sphere, she unleashed a storm of petals around her blown about by the wind. Her form glowed green and became surrounded by petals and leaves, sucked around her by a whirling vortex of energy. Then the vortex dissolved from the right hand onward, revealing a young lady with rose-red hair. Her eyes were grass green, and an armor plate resembling three leaves placed together rested on her forehead, doubling almost like a tiara. Long leaves extended from her wrists, and she was wearing a leaf skirt, composed of around 8 large leaves hanging from her waist. Yes, they went down to just above her knees. And no, for those perverts out there wondering, you couldn't have gotten a look at her...undergarments, because she was also in a sort of full armor. It was a steely substance, but colored exactly like leaves. Her torso was encased in a scale-armor of leaves, her shins were guarded by steely plates with leaf-like kneecaps. She held a glossy shield on her left arm, with the emblem of a rose on it, and wielded not a sword but a wooden staff in her right hand. She looked distinctly human, but make no mistake, for looking like a human is far from being one.

She jumped down, shouting as she whirled her staff. She lightly on the ground and slammed her staff into the ground, whirling about a storm of leaves. She held up her shield, and an Energy Ball charged in front of it and blasted forth, exploding somewhere. "Arboreon Magna!"

"What-TWO more humans becoming Pokémon?" a Cipher Peon shouted. "What madness is this?"

"If we let this city fall to you…"Arboreon began, leveling her staff.

"Then we're not Elementals," Drakanohi finished, bending down. (He dwarfed a TWO STORY BUILDING!)

"What-what's he bending down for?" a Cipher Peon asked. Drakanohi's response was a roar, and then a swift rush in indigo light. "WAH! DRAGON RUSH!" the Cipher Peon shouted.

Drakanohi spiraled upwards, ending the Dragon Rush, and then opened his mouth, spewing out indigo flames. The Cipher Peons all ran for cover as he attacked.

Arboreon ran forward and then thrust her staff into the ground, and then roots smashed upwards in a Frenzy Plant, smashing several Cipher Peons. "Drakanohi! What do we do with them?"

"We drive them out of Eterna!" Drakanohi shouted, blasting more fire. "Then we don't have to worry about hitting civilians!"

* * *

_AGAIN with the people going to Snowpoint__…_

"We made it!" Sam declared. "We're at Snowpoint Temple!"

"B-b-but c-c-can we go w-w-warm up f-f-first?" Ben asked, shivering. Because they were standing IN A BLIZZARD. WHICH SAM WAS COMPLETELY UNAFFECETED BY.

"Y-yeah," Cynthia agreed, despite the fact that unlike Ben, she had a coat. "I-it's really cold."

"REAL heroes aren't affected by blizzards," Sam said. "Besides, once we go into the ruins, it'll be much warmer! Come on, let's go!"

Sam began to walk in, but then suddenly, a rock blasted out like it was launched from a mortar! "WHOA!" Sam shouted. "What the crap?"

"Ah, two of the ones who destroyed Team Galactic." And then, Saturn emerged from the darkness. With Rhyperior. "May I ask what you're doing here?"

"We're here to save the world!" Ben blurted. "And we're going to mow you down to do it!"

"As if," Saturn said. "Without Axel Nightblazer, you stand no chance against me."

"I wonder about that," Sam said loudly/obnoxiously.

"What?" Saturn asked, taking offense.

"Not when I carry these," Sam said, and then he held up TEN Pokéballs!

"Wait, 10 Pokéballs?" Saturn shouted. "That's illegal! How do you-"

"Some jerk hacked my PC account," Sam explained. "While Axel offered to hold the Pokémon that DIDN'T get taken, I decided it would be better for me to carry them around. So…"

"I-it doesn't matter!" Saturn shouted. "I can still defeat you, even if you bring out all 10 Pokémon at once!"

"Let's see, then," Sam replied. "I'll prove you'll lose by sending out only two Pokémon, both of which normally wouldn't be a good idea. Go!"

Sam threw two Pokéballs, and out of one came an Electivire. The other housed an Articuno(! :O).

"What-Articuno?" Saturn shouted. "But it doesn't matter. I have type advantage here! As long as I have Rhyperior!"

"We'll see about that," Sam replied. "Articuno! Blizzard! Electivire! Cross Chop!"

Icy energy began to accumulate at Articuno's beak, and then he fired out a storm of wind and ice, smashing Rhyperior backwards. It was hardly over when Electivire swiftly dashed forward and dealt two swift handknifes, smashing both sides of Rhyperior's face.

"What?" Saturn shouted as Rhyperior fell to the ground, stunned. "Rhyperior! Get up! Use Rock Wrecker!"

Rhyperior growled, then held up his massive arms and began to shoot rocks out of them, forming a sphere of rock that glowed red. Then he fired it out at Articuno.

"Articuno, dodge it," Sam said calmly. "Then use Icicle Crash!"

Articuno flew over the boulder, then created icicles just underneath his feathers, making them long and wickedly sharp. Then he flapped his wings, sending them flying downward and smashing into Rhyperior, KOing him.

Saturn growled and recalled Rhyperior. "Go, Bronzong! Use Gyro Ball on Articuno!"

Bronzong created a ball of spinning silver energy and fired it at Articuno. It hit dead on, smashing Articuno back into a wall. "Whoa, he actually hit?" Sam shouted.

Saturn grinned. "My Bronzong _never_ misses. Aside from that, Gyro Ball operates using speed. The faster the opponent compared to the user, the harder it would hit."

"Yeah. I knew that," Sam said casually. "Articuno can still go, but I don't think I'll let him." He recalled Articuno and raised another Pokéball. "Go, Magmortar!"

"Magmortar?" Saturn shouted. "Well, in that case, Bronzong, return! Go, Gallade!"

"Coward," Sam muttered. "Bronzong _could've_ been KO'd by my Magmortar's attack. But Bronzong has Earthquake, which could cause serious damage to _both_ of my Pokémon."

"All the same, using Gallade I can beat both of them," Saturn declared. "Gallade, Shell Blade on Magmortar!"

"WAIT, HE CAN USE SHELL BLADE?" Sam shouted. "GALLADES CAN'T LEARN SHELL BLADE!"

"Well, mine knows it," Saturn replied. "Go, Gallade!" Gallade's blade extended and glowed blue, and then he slashed Magmortar, shells and water trailing the slash.

Magmortar staggered from the attack, but quickly recovered and retaliated by pointing his cannon at Gallade and firing a stream of fire, scorching Gallade badly. Gallade responded by filling his blade with purple energy, then slashing and sending a wave of it at Magmortar. But Magmortar just took on Psycho Cut, then began to absorb what little sunlight there was in the area. Then he pointed both cannons, and fired out TWIN SOLARBEAMS!

Galade dodged through one Solarbeam, cut through another (albeit with some damage), and then attacked Electivire with a Dark Slash. Dark energy accumulated on his blade, and then he slashed, sending a wave of it out and cutting Electivire. However, he got a Thunder Punch in response.

"Gallade, return! Go, Toxicroak! Use Poison Jab!" Saturn shouted. Gallade was pulled back into his Pokéball, and Toxicroak raced out and smashed Electivire with a hand covered in highly toxic, bubbling poison that coursed through Electivire's body, causing the Thunderbolt Pokémon to roar in pain.

"You made the worst decision in bringing out Toxicroak," Sam declared. "Magmortar, use Psychic!"

"What?" Saturn shouted. Magmortar brought his cannon back and thrust it forward, sending out a violet-pink ripple through the air, which sent out five golden ripples when it got to a certain length. All the ripples smashed into Toxicroak, blasting him with Psychic Energy. Toxicroak fell back immediately.

"Alright, I think I can keep going…huh?" Sam looked at Electivire, who was on the ground, seeming fatigued and breathing hard. "Electivire, what's wrong?"

"Hah," Saturn smiled. "He's been badly poisoned, of course. That'll wear him down quite a bit."

"I can't waste time digging through my bag," Sam decided. "Electivire, return! Go, Golduck!"

"Golduck," Saturn said with some surprise. "A rather surprising choice. Go, my _own_ Magmortar!"

"That's not such a great idea," Sam commented. "Not when my Golduck knows Hydro Pump."

"Can you use it?" Saturn countered. "Magmortar, use Solarbeam!"

"CRAP!" Sam shouted as Magmortar thrust out both its cannons and charged them with green light, then blasted out green lasers, both striking Golduck and smashing it hard. "Okay, now you asked for it. Golduck, use HYPER BEAM!"

"HYPER BEAM?" Saturn shouted. "HE KNOWS HYPER BEAM?"

Golduck charged up a sphere of golden energy at the crystal on his forehead, then blasted it out, smashing Magmortar hard. However, Magmortar was able to get up and fire two more Solarbeams.

"Magmortar, block the attack!" Sam shouted. Sam's Magmortar rushed in front of Golduck and blocked the attack.

"What I was waiting for!" Saturn shouted gleefully. "Magmortar! Use Rock Tomb!"

"Wait, Rock Tomb?" Sam shouted. Saturn's Magmortar thrust his cannons downwards and fired pulses into the ground, and rocks came and encased Magmortar and Golduck with rocks. Then Saturn's Magmortar, for good measure, began to charge up a Focus Blast and smashed the coffin to pieces.

"Now _both_ Pokémon are down," Saturn said triumphantly. But then, both Magmortar (though badly beaten) and Golduck emerged from the rocks. "Wait, what? Golduck's still up?"

"Yeah," Sam said. "Golduck used Recover to survive. So now, I can still fight with Golduck. That being said, Magmortar, return!" He held up his Pokéball and recalled the Blast Pokémon.

"This is weird, he hasn't let a single Pokémon faint," Ben commented. "Guess Sam's just awesome, huh?"

"What really worries me is," Cynthia said. "What Pokémon will come next?"

* * *

**Random Bonus Story…XD**

"You know, I've been wondering…" Hanna said to Axel. "Where did your old motorcycle go? I mean, the one you used in Chapters 3 through 15? And more importantly," she added, "why do you have a Motorcycle on which you can play Card Games?"

"CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES!" Jack Atlas shouted. Aeron whacked him away with a Gravity Hammer.

"Oh. About that..." Axel said.

* * *

_Sometime between Chapters __16 and 24...while Hanna was away…_

"Remind me why we're doing this again?" Ben asked, using a wrench to put a piece of Axel's old motorcycle on.

The motorcycle's tires had been removed, and a frame had been constructed to keep it in place. Several wires ran from the motorcycle to a computer, which Axel was typing at.

"Yeah, why did we have to take apart your motorcycle?" Sam asked. "REAL Heroes don't have to fix vehicles; other people are supposed to do that."

"RAAAAAAH~" Ben smashed Sam in the face with the wrench. "NO MORE REAL HERO STUFF!"

**Ben Win Count: 1**

"We're not fixing the motorcycle," Axel said. "We're modifying it so it can go faster. That way, I can FIRE MY LAZOR BLAAAARGH!"

Ben and Sam were fried, but the motorcycle was strangely unharmed. "Cough..." Ben coughed. "What does firing Lazors have to do with going faster?"

"...You know, I have no idea," Axel said. "Okay, the program's finished."

"So, you want it to go faster for what reason?" Ben asked. "So you can play Children's Card Games on it?"

"Maybe. Well, I'd gladly begin driving," Axel said, "but I have to run the engine program. Either of you can drive."

"Cool! Let me drive!" Ben shouted. "I've always wanted to be a test driv-"

"No, no, no, no, no, no. I'LL drive," Sam said, pushing Ben aside. "It takes a REAL hero to be a test driver."

"Ben, no," Axel said before Ben could make an attempt on Sam's life. "Alright, I'm starting the program."

"You know, I've got a bad feeling the motorcycle won't work," Ben said as the engine began to roar, and the (wheelless) motors began to spin.

"Why not? With a REAL hero in the driver's seat, what could _possibly_ go wrong?" Sam asked, rapidly increasing the speed.

**WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!**

"Oh, I know. How about A LOT?" Axel shouted. "Sam! Stop accelerating!"

"What?" Sam shouted over the roaring engine. "I can't hear you!"

"HE SAID, LAY OFF ON THE ACCELERATOR!" Ben shouted even louder than Axel did, but not loud enough.

"Accelerate more? Okay!" Sam shouted, and he opened the throttle full.

"WHAT THE F-?" Axel and Ben shouted at the same time.

**BOOOOOOOOM!**

A MASSIVE explosion rocked Axel's house. How massive? Suffice to say that every window in Axel's house was shattered from the force of the explosion and smoke blasted out of every nook and cranny that it could possibly escape from. And when the dust finally settled, a lot of the boards were loose because the explosion blasted many of the house's nails out of their sockets.

Inside Axel's workshop, most of the technology had survived because of their high durability, courtesy of Aeron designing them. But Axel, Ben and Sam were all lying in piles of wreckage made of all the other, less durable objects in the workshop.

Pikachu and Latias burst out of the front door, waving their arms about their heads to blow away the smoke and coughing violently. Pikachu turned back to the still smoking house. "What the *bleep* just happened?"

Latias bopped Pikachu on the head for swearing, prompting an "OW." Then she stared at the house carefully. _Is it just me, or did the house get a new paintjob?_

What was she talking about? 5 minutes ago, the house was a pristine blue. Now? Could've lost your own shadow on the face of that house.

Back in the workshop, Axel sat up coughing and waving away the smoke around his head. "Everyone alright?"

"Yeah, somehow," Ben groaned. "What the crap happened?"

"Yeah Axel, what happened?" Sam shouted. "Was it supposed to explode like that?"

"No," Axel said, looking at the junk that was once his motorcycle. "But it seems a 'REAL hero' pushed it too hard, causing it to explode."

Aeron burst into the room, absolutely furious and swearing up a storm. "WHAT THE *bleep* JUST *bleep*IN' HAPPENED IN THIS *bleep*IN' ROOM? IT *bleep*IN' LOOKS LIKE A *bleep*IN' HERD OF RHYDON STAMPEDED THROUGH HERE GOD *bleep* IT!"

Sam and Ben stared. "Whoa, who hit Aeron's berserk button?"

"Aeron, there's a limit to the amount of swear words that can be put into one sentence," Axel said. "I believe you've gone over the limit."

"No, the limit is 10," Aeron said. "But seriously. WHAT THE CRAP HAPPENED?"

"Something exploded," Ben said lamely.

"NO *bleep*!" Aeron snapped at Ben, who winced a little from the outburst. Aeron sighed and slicked back his hair, which was slightly frazzled and a little darker than usual. Which makes no sense, because it's the blackest shade of black ever. "Ok, calm down Aeron," he told himself. Then, "Ok, sorry I exploded like that. I was making everybody a really good lunch, but the explosion ruined all of it. The bread's burned up, the salad's been burned _away-"_

"And the noodles?" Axel asked.

"You don't even want to know," Aeron said. "But the drinks have evaporated, and the soup is all over the kitchen."

Axel sighed. "Well, if you must know, Real Hero over there-" he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at Sam, "-pushed the engine of my motorcycle too hard and it exploded."

Aeron sighed. "Well, that thing was getting old anyway. Maybe I can help."

"Hey, Axel, your house looks like a Super Capital-type Neuroi magically appeared inside and fired all of its weapons at once!" Rinna shouted, suddenly coming in through the smoking door. "What happ-"

*insert record scratch here*

Rinna stared at what was left of the workshop. "Uh...never mind...?" She slowly sidestepped out.

"When did Rinna suddenly come?" Axel asked Aeron, annoyed.

"2 seconds ago," Aeron replied. "So, shall we pay a massive insurance bill, and also a big bill to get all the destroyed food back?"

"My wallet is going to take a beating..."Axel moaned, doing anime-style tears.

Chikorita walked through the front door, totally blackened. She coughed, and then fell over on her side.

"WHOA! CHIKORITA! WHAT THE CRAP HAPPENED TO YOU?" Pikachu shouted.

_I think w__e're never going to be able to repair this,_ Latias thought, looking at the house.

* * *

**Moral:**

**Just be content with the current speed of your motorcycle****, or the fact that you can't play Card Games on it.**

**And don't let "REAL heroes" near it.**

* * *

**Don't EVEN ask why I suddenly changed Axel's motorcycle. I'll just say this: We seem to be parodying the "CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES!" thing a lot.**

Jack Atlas: CHILDREN'S CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES!

Crow Hogan: In 3D, too!

Yusei Fudo: What a novel idea!

**Err...yeah. I'll just pretend I never saw the guys from the Abridged series and quietly leave. Bye.**

_HE GONE!_


	29. Aeron's LIKE A BOSS

**WARNING: Excessive use of the word "boss" in this chapter. And a Cipher Admin fight times three. So if you don't want me to say "boss" so much, then leave quickly.**

**And, this fanfic is no longer possible because of the events you have recently seen in Bleach, if you're looking at the latest chapters IN JAPAN. Why? Answer: ICHIGO'S NEW FORM. Now he's got an even bigger **_**Getsuga**_**, and **_**Zangetsu **_**isn't the same anymore. Heck, do we even know if this is **_**Zangetsu**_**? So, now I may get all my time eaten up by editing past chapters so Ichigo's using the new **_**Zanpaku-to**_**.**

**Also, I'd like to say Happy Birthday this month to…(drumroll)…MYSELF! Yes, my birthday is in September, though I will not say which day. So I did a little short involving what I'd do if I could live one day in the world of my story and do whatever I want, and how I'd feel when I've done it, though the main characters in my stories have no really important role. Hope you enjoy it! =D**

**Credit goes to LittleKuriboh for the whole "**_**LIKE A BOSS!**_**" thing. Hope he doesn't mind if I make a parody…of a parody. :D (Look on Youtube for the original by typing in "Kaiba's like a boss".)**

**Also, whoever made Dragon Ball Z Abridged gets credit for another variant of "IT'S OVER 9000!" Sorry if he takes offense.**

**And finally, credit goes to Superdaniellogan1 (a Youtuber) for inspiration of the "A normal day in the life of (whoever)" idea.  
**

* * *

"Here we are, Iron Island," Axel said, getting off his motorcycle. "But even better, we got here using Motorcycles!" (On which they can play Card Games.)

"That's because _I_ used my Fullbring to make the water solid, so we could get over here!" Hanna reminded him, rather exhausted now.

"Hey, is that a Mook?" Aeron asked, pointing at some Cipher Peon who was randomly walking around, complaining about how it was so boring to be standing on patrol here.

"Yep, it's a Mook alright," Hanna said. "So…what do we do? Show him who's boss?"

"Yeah," Aeron said. "Let's show him who's boss." He threw a stone at the guy and OHKO'd him. "Whoops."

"Aeron, you fool!" Axel shouted like it was the end of the world (which it wasn't). "Because you knocked him out, we can't show him who's boss now!"

"Look, let's just find that Temple of Steel," Hanna said. "We can show them who's boss later."

Using their motorcycles (despite Hanna's protests), Axel and Aeron quickly got over to the entrance to Iron Island's cave. "We made it!" Aeron shouted, jumping off his motorcycle.

"I _still_ say using the motorcycles was a bad idea," Hanna said. "The Cipher Peons obviously should have heard that."

"Then we run in before they do," Axel said, running towards the cave. "Come on!"

* * *

_At the Shadow Pokémon Factory…_

"What's all this?" Byakuya wondered, looking around. All around, cartons were on conveyer belts were passing through strange machines, and workers were at computers, talking about how well the corruption went.

"I dunno, but it seems kind of bad," Kenpachi replied. "I say we bust everything to pieces!" (In case you haven't guessed, they completely mowed down the guards and forced their way in, but the workers were apparently too brain dead to notice.

"What a barbaric idea," Byakuya commented. "However, what they are doing is _equally_ barbaric. Shall we?" He held up his sword. "Scatter, _Senbonzakura_ (Thousand Cherry Blossoms)!" he shouted. Byakuya's blade turned pink, and then the blade dissolved into what appeared to be many _sakura_ petals, drifting on the wind. Byakuya thrust his hilt forward, and the blades rushed forward, destroying one of the machines. Sensing _reiatsu_ inside, Byakuya halted the blades before they could destroy the cartons passing through the machines, and rushed over to grab the cartons before what was left of the machine could land on it.

"GAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kenpachi laughed, slashing another machine to bits like a madman, destroying it. "AHAHA…why the h*bleep* am I laughing?"

"Because you are a fool, that's why," Byakuya replied.

"Crap!" a worker shouted. "Hurry! Go tell the boss that there are intruders!"

"You'll do no such thing," they suddenly heard. Everyone looked up to see a tall, skinny man with black hair, white skin, and what appeared to be green tear-like streaks going down his face. He had no eyebrows, and what appeared to be armor with a horn rested on the left side of his head. "I won't let you."

Almost immediately, the man pretty much OHKO'd everyone WITH HIS BARE HANDS (_**LIKE A BOSS!**_). Byakuya and Kenpachi stared.

"You're…Ulquiorra Cifer," Byakuya noted. "What are you doing here?"

Ulquiorra turned back to them. "As soon as I heard Cipher was in Sinnoh, I came as fast as I could. Surely, you remember what happened 7 years ago."

"So in short, you're here to stop Cipher," Byakuya said. "Am I wrong?"

"No," Ulquiorra replied. "We'd better find their boss. I have a feeling I know who it is."

Another wall suddenly was blasted open as Ash, Candice, Paul, Ichigo, Renji, and Rukia jumped inside. "What the-Byakuya?" Ichigo shouted. "You got here already?"

"Kurosaki Ichigo," Byakuya said, sounding rather surprised. "This is the mission we were given. Why are _you_, a Substitute _Shinigami_, here?"

"It was our plan to get here in the first place," Ash replied. "And why the heck is Ulquiorra with you?"

"Let's just say I came for the same reasons you did, if you intend to stop Cipher," Ulquiorra replied.

"Movin' words, Ulquiorra!" they suddenly heard. And then, EVERY SINGLE F*bleep*ING CARTON SUDDENLY BLASTED OPEN, RELEASING TONS OF POKEMON. "But I guess that was all just hot air, huh? Don't worry, you'll get plenty of it!"

"Just as I thought," Ulquiorra muttered, looking up at where the voice was coming from, at some cowboy guy. "So it's _you_, Shooter!"

* * *

_Cipher Admin Shooter would like to battle!_

Shooter grinned. "You came to die, didn't you? That's the message _I_ got from that!" He pointed his gun at them. "I loves my gun."

Flaming bullets rained down, forcing everyone to jump away. "Wait, what?" Paul shouted. "Those bullets shouldn't be flaming!"

"That's the special power of my gun," Shooter replied, grinning. "But that ain't the only thing you gotta worry about!" As if on cue, a Mr Mime made a grab at Candice's arm. She kicked him away and blasted ice at him.

"Pikachu, use Thunder!" Ash shouted, jumping away from a Poliwrath's punch. Pikachu jumped forward and electrocuted the Poliwrath, but then an Arcanine jumped at him, fangs blazing.

Candice sent out Froslass and blasted the Legendary Pokémon with Shadow Ball, then freeze a Primeape in place. "Guys, this may be the most intense battle we've had! Brace yourself!"

"It won't stop us!" Renji shouted, raising his sword. "Howl, _Zabimaru_!" He smashed it down on a Metagross, but Metagross was barely affected and just used Hyper Beam to attack him.

"_Getsuga Tensho!_" Ichigo shouted, ripping through the walkway underneath Shooter with the attack. Shooter quickly used a jet of flame and jumped onto another walkway above them, and ran upwards, shooting at them.

"Guys!" Ash shouted to Paul and Candice. "Give me all your Pokéballs! I'm going to Snag them!"

"Are you crazy?" Paul shouted. "You can't _possibly_ Snag all of them! Even if we pooled all of our Pokéballs together, we wouldn't have enough to do that!"

"I got some Pokéballs on my way here," Ichigo shouted. "I thought we might be able to use them to Snag!" He pulled from his (bottomless thanks to Aeron) pocket a black Pokéball, but when he pressed the button, it converted to armor that covered his left arm. A Pokéball whirled into his hand. "Here goes!" He threw the Pokéball at the Arcanine, snagging him.

Ulquiorra drew his sword, still keeping one arm in his pocket, and began to fight back against the Pokémon. "It's a shame we can't use the Pokéballs they were in; then we wouldn't have to worry."

"We could hack the Pokéball's systems or something, right?" Rukia asked, freezing a Ledian solid.

"No, it's not that simple. The Pokéball's systems are too complicated for such a thing," Byakuya said, using _Senbon Zakura_ to slice an Ursaring up a couple dozen times, knocking it out.

"My god, won't he come down and fight?" Kenpachi growled. "If this keeps up, I'll have to chase after him!" He began to run up the steps at Shooter, jumping over the massive gap that Ichigo made in a walkway. "GET BACK HERE, YOU FOOL, AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!"

* * *

_Back on Iron Island…_

"Oh, crap," Axel muttered. "Now the Mooks found us." Pretty much every single Mook on the island came and surrounded them.

"You're gonna go down now!" a Cipher Peon shouted. "We're about to show you who's boss!"

"Yeah, _me_," Aeron said. "I'm the boss."

"What? What makes _you_ boss?" another Cipher Peon shouted. "You're not in a position to tell us what to do!"

"Oh, yes, I am," Aeron said. "Because the first thing I do in a normal day in my life is…"

**Screw the Rules, **_**LIKE A BOSS!**_**  
Summon a Dragon, **_**LIKE A BOSS!**_**  
Invent a Duel Disk, **_**LIKE A BOSS!**_**  
Jump out the Window, **_**LIKE A BOSS!**_**  
Rescue my Brother, **_**LIKE A BOSS!**_**  
Hang up the Phone, **_**LIKE A BOSS!**_**  
Impress my Rocks, **_**LIKE A BOSS!**_**  
Collect the God Cards, **_**LIKE A BOSS!  
**_**Fly a Jet, **_**LIKE A BOSS!**_**  
Write a Check, **_**LIKE A BOSS!**_**  
Land in a Jet Pack, **_**LIKE A BOSS!**_**  
Be an A*bleep*hole, **_**LIKE A BOSS!**_

"Cool story, bro," Axel said. Then he turned to the Cipher Peons and said, "See who's boss now?"

"Well, you can't do any of those, so you're not a boss!" a Cipher Peon shouted. "And if you are a boss, show it!" Aeron pulled out a Pokéball and then sent a Pokémon out wordlessly. And what came out was a massive green serpentine dragon with yellow irises and black sclera, fins all over his body, and strange golden designs similar to chains between sets of fins. Know who it was?

Yep, it was Rayquaza. All the Cipher Peons were pretty much like "HOLY S*bleep*! O_o" "Any more proof necessary?" Aeron asked, grinning.

"B-b-but using Rayquaza is against the rules!" a Cipher Peon shouted.

"Screw the Rules, I'm _**LIKE A BOSS!**_" Aeron replied. "And by the way, that only applies at the Battle Tower."

"Y-y-you didn't invent a duel disk!" the Cipher Peon shouted. Aeron grabbed the Duel Disk on his Motorcycle, switched Duel Mode off, and held it up for them to see.

"W-w-well you don't have the God cards!" another guy shouted. Aeron replied by holding up "Polar God Sacred Emperor, Odin" up for them to see…as a Ghost Rare. And "Polar God Thor" and "Polar God Loki", too.

"But you didn't jump out a window, rescue your brother, or land with a jet pack!" a Mook shouted. (Need I define Mook? Okay, fine: Mook=Lackey/Goon/Minion/Grunt.)

"…" Aeron got an evil smirk on his face.

* * *

"…Why the h*bleep* do I have to do this?" Axel muttered, sitting around in a burning building.

"So I can prove I'm _**LIKE A BOSS**_," Aeron said before tackling Axel out of the building.

"D*bleep* YOU!" Axel shouted at him as they went flying out of a window, but Aeron safely landed with a jet pack.

* * *

"And now for the remaining ones," Aeron muttered. He grabbed his phone. "Hi, I'd like to rent a jet. Okay, thanks." He quickly wrote a check (and wrote _**LIKE A BOSS**_ on it). Then he went off somewhere and came back flying a jet. A bunch of Geodudes were really impressed with his flying.

"See?" Aeron asked, proudly grinning. "I _am_ _**LIKE A BOSS**_. =D"

The Cipher Peons all looked at one another. "ATTACK HIM!" they all shouted at each other.

"Rayquaza, use Draco Meteor!" Aeron shouted, causing Rayquaza to blast an orange bolt into the sky, which split into several meteors that smashed into the Mooks.

"Let's go while he holds them off," Axel said to Hanna, and they ran deeper into the cave. "Hey, do you think Riley'll be alright?"

"I think he can deal with the rest just fine," Hanna replied as they ran deeper into the cave.

Except then, at that point, they ran into some more Mooks. "Hey! Stop!" a Cipher Peon shouted. "You can't go this way!"

"Says who?" Axel asked.

"Says me with my Bisharp!" the Cipher Peon shouted, sending out the Pokémon. His comrades were surprised; Bisharp was from Unova, and none of them had seen one before. "And I'll use Alakazam, too!" the Cipher Peon shouted, tossing another Pokéball.

"Whatever," Axel said. "Pikachu, you get them."…(silence)… "…Pikachu?"

"Wheeze…Wheeze…Wheeze…" Pikachu ran up, gasping for breath.

"WHOA, WHAT THE CRAP HAPPENED TO YOU?" Axel shouted. "YOU LOOK LIKE YOU RAN A MARATHON! NO, MAKE THAT 10 IN SUCCESSION!"

"Huff…the Pokéathelon was way easier…than…huff…running after…huff…a motorcycle…" Pikachu fainted. Everyone stared for a long time at Pikachu, until Axel just sighed and used a Revive on Pikachu, causing him to jump up, good as new.

"_Hmph! A mere Pikachu, against me?"_ Alakazam scoffed. _"I will let you know, I can clear my mind and raise my power level to over 3000!"_ He immediately closed his eyes and eminated a pink aura, raising his power level.

Pikachu just responded by charging up Falcon Punch. "HaaaaAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Bisharp held up a Pokédex, while Alakazam just watched with a surprised expression. Then he turned to Bisharp and said, _"Bisharp, what does the Pokédex say about his power level?"_

"_IT'S…1006,"_ Bisharp replied, lowering the Pokédex.

"_Wha…really?"_ Alakazam asked, not believing that a Pikachu would have a level of 1006, but rather happy within that he could crush the Pikachu.

"_Yeah,"_ Bisharp said. _"Now go kick his sorry little behind, Alakazam!"_ He switched the Pokédex off.

"_YAAA~AAAY!"_ Alakazam shouted. He charged towards Pikachu…

*insert beatdown sounds here*

"DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!" Pikachu shouted, repeatedly Falcon Punching Alakazam's face. Bisharp, the Cipher Peons, and all of Axel's Pokémon stared in shock, utterly speechless.

"_Hm…that doesn't seem quite right," _Bisharp commented to himself. Suddenly, he noticed how he was holding the Pokédex. _"Wait, wait, wait, wait, WAIT! ALAKAZAM!"_

"_AHOHOH!"_ Alakazam smashed down to the ground right in front of Bisharp. _"WHAAAAAAAAAT?"_

"_I had the Pokédex upside down!" _Bisharp shouted, lowering the Pokédex. _"It's over 9000!"_

…

Bisharp looked at a piece of paper briefly, then put it back down and then muttered, _"…grah,"_ crushing the Pokédex in the process.

"_Why do you sound so bored?"_ Alakazam groaned.

"_Because it was in my script,"_ Bisharp replied flatly.

*insert record scratch here*

"Wha-YOU IDIOT!" Ninetales shouted. "YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO MENTION THE SCRIPT!"

"What _is_ in the script, anyway?" Chikorita wondered, pulling out the script.

**CUT!**

* * *

_Take two._

"_I had the Pokédex upside down!" _Bisharp shouted, lowering the Pokédex. _"It's over 9000!"_

…

"…_grah,"_ Bisharp muttered, crushing the Pokédex in the process.

"_Why do you sound so bored?"_ Alakazam groaned.

"_Because it's _still_ not a threat,"_ Bisharp replied smugly.

"_BUT-"_

"_TO ME,"_ Bisharp quickly added. _"Besides, once we obtain the power that this sanctuary can grant us, we can just wish for immortality. And then,_" he asserted, assuming an EPIC SMUG FACE (_**LIKE A BOSS!**_), "no one_ will be able to stop us."_

"Wait a minute," Pikachu said. "But you're evil!"

"_And your point is?"_ Bisharp asked.

"Well, if you're evil, then it won't work for you!" Pikachu shouted. ("How does he know that?" Chikorita whispered to Latias, who shrugged.)

"_Wh-wh-__**WHAT**__?"_ Bisharp said, shocked.

"_OH, and I made both of us evil,"_ Alakazam said. _"Oh well, at least we had fun getting here, right, Bisharp?" _Bisharp didn't reply, but instead began to clench his fist. _"Bisharp? Remember all those fun times we had at the Battle Frontier?"_ … _"Bisharp? Bisharp? Bisharp? Bisharp? Bisharp? Bisharp? Bisharp? Bisharp? Bisharp? Bisharp? Bisharp? Bisharp? Bisharp? Bisharp? Bisharp? Bisharp? BishaAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

Bisharp sent him flying out of the cave with one swift motion. He watched Alakazam fly out with an epic smug face. "…that's just cruel," Pikachu commented.

"Shut up," Bisharp snapped. "I get to do whatever I want."

"Falcon PUNCH!" Pikachu punched Bisharp in the face, smashing him into his trainer.

"Go on; Pikachu and co. can take care of these guys," Axel said.

"Right," Hanna said, running off. A Cipher Peon jumped at her, but she quickly sent out Gallade and sliced up his armor until he was in his underwear before running away. (NOTE: Th

* * *

_At Snowpoint Ruins…_

"Magmortar, use Solarbeam!" "Golduck, dodge it and hit him with Hydro Pump! And Garchomp, use Draco Meteor!"

Sam and Saturn were continuing their intense battle. Golduck blasted a jet of water from his mouth, but that was cut through by Magmortar's twin Solarbeams. Garchomp charged up an orange sphere of light and blasted it into the air, causing meteors to rain down on Magmortar, as Golduck dodged the Solarbeams. "Should we just quickly run past while they battle?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, that might be the best choice," Cynthia replied, and they ran past the two inside the cave.

Except, suddenly, there was a rumbling. SOMEONE apparently was in there. "Holy crap, what's that?" Ben asked.

A pattern of dots flashed in the darkness. And then, in all his glory, Regigigas lumbered out of the cave (_**LIKE A BOSS!**_), along with Regice, Regirock, and Registeel! "No way, Regigigas?"Cynthia shouted. "But how did all of them awaken?"

"Maybe Sam has a miasma that awakened all of them!" Ben shouted. "Whatever, we have to stop them! Go, Infernape! Torterra! Heatran!" Ben threw out three Pokéballs, bringing out three of his strongest Pokémon. "Heatran, use Magma Storm! Torterra, use Frenzy Blant! Infernape, head for Regigigas and use Close Combat!"

Torterra roared and stomped the ground, causing roots to shoot up and entangle Regirock. Heatran did the same motion, but magma blasted upwards instead, splashing across Regice and Registeel. The earth continued to break, causing more magma to shoot up. Meanwhile, Infernape smashed Regigigas with his arms and legs, dealing many hits. "Yes!" Ben shouted. "I can beat h-"

"_?"_ Infernape's arms were suddenly caught by Regigigas. And then Regigigas's hands began to glow orange as he tightened his grip a _lot_, which really hurt.

"Holy crap! Crush Grip!" Ben shouted. "Infernape, hang in there!" Meanwhile, Regice attacked Torterra by blasting icy winds at him, and Registeel created a glowing silver sphere of light, which he blasted at Torterra. Regirock was using Earthquake to smash Heatran _really_ hard.

"Wha-Regigigas?" Saturn shouted. "I tried and tried to wake it up, but it wakes up _now_?"

"Last time I checked, you needed the three Legendary Golems to do it," Sam said.

"Shut up!" Saturn shouted. "Magmortar, defeat those two Pokémon! Use HYPER BEAM!" Magmortar blasted _TWIN_ Hyper Beams from his cannon at Sam's two Pokémon. Golduck used Protect to create an energy shield, and Garchomp just plain dodged it (_**LIKE A BOSS!**_).

"Garchomp, get him with Dragon Claw! And then, use Earthquake!" Sam shouted. Garchomp surged forward, claw glowing with violet energy, and slashed Magmortar with his claw. Before Magmortar could recover, Garchomp roared, sending massive seismic waves through the earth, smashing Magmortar, Golduck, Heatran, Regigigas, Regirock, Infernape, Torterra, Regice, and Registeel in the process. "Oops," Sam said.

"Well, Regigigas is wea-ZOH MAH GOD!" Ben shouted, running away as Regigigas began blasting twin Hyper Beams from each of his hands. The three Legendary Golems followed his lead, shooting out their own Hyper Beams at everyone. "This is _really_ getting out of hand," Ben muttered.

"Crap!" Sam shouted. "Garchomp, use Dig!" Garchomp burrowed underground.

"Please let this work please let this work please let this work…Heatran! Use Explosion!" Ben shouted. (NOTE: I am not sure Heatran can know explosion.)

**EARTH SHATTERING KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

You know what happened. Heatran exploded, blah blah blah. And it sent _everyone_ flying to opposite sides of the cave. Magmortar and Golduck fainted in the process. "Magmortar, return!" Saturn shouted. "Go, Croba-"

"I'M SICK AND TIRED OF THIS! GET SOMEONE ELSE TO F*bleep*IN' DO IT!" Sam shouted. As if on cue, Garchomp smashed into Saturn with Dig, sending Saturn flying out of the cave.

"O…k…" Cynthia said. "Okay, that cured most of our problems."

"But not all of them!" Ben shouted, matrix-style dodging a Hyper Beam (_**LIKE A BOSS!**_). "We still have to deal with Regigigas! Torterra, use Frenzy Plant! Infernape, use Blast Burn!" Roots sprang up from the ground, entangling Regigigas and his underlings. Then those roots were set fire to by a massive explosion. "Yeah!" Ben shouted. "That took care of eve-"

"You know Regigigas has Slow Start, right?" Cynthia interrupted.

"…s*bleep*," Ben muttered, as Regigigas busted out and charged forward, mowing down Torterra and Infernape. "Okay, everyone, return! Go, Jolteon!" Jolteon quickly came out, dodged a Hyper Beam, and unleashed a Thunderbolt, electrocuting Regigigas. He quickly dodged a Crush Grip before headbutting the Colossal Pokémon and unleashed another point blank blast of lightning. And then Jolteon quickly dodged Regigigas' Giga Impact, causing it to smash into Regice.

"You know what, screw this," Sam said. "I'll just solve everything the _easy_ way!" He held up his Pokédex Ultra.

An image of a powerful being flared into life, howling at the moon. It's form wavered and dissolved into the kanji for ice, which was blazed straight onto Sam's Pokedex Ultra. Sam pulled it back, and then whirled his other hand up, which now had a sphere of pale blue energy blazing in it. Sam extended both hands outwards, and then swung them around, slamming the two together in an epic way.

"Come forth, my friend!" he shouted. "Ice Elemental Resurrection!" He pulled the two apart, enveloping himself in a blizzard.

Inside the blizzard, Sam fell down on all fours, and his body began to warp. It changed into a wolf's body, and the blizzard cleared to reveal…well…a wolf. He had fur as white as you could ever get, though it had a silvery sheen to it. Streaks of fur running down his spine, on the backs of his legs, on his belly, and along the top of his tail were an icy blue. He had a silvery-white headcrest bearing resemblance to part of a snowflake, and his irises were glowing a pale blue against his white irises and fur.

The wolf bounded down, landing on a platform with the kanji for _ice_ emblazoned on it. He howled, and a storm of icicles shot up around him. "Lone Wolf Arcticryo!"

Regigigas and the three Golems halted. And then the Golems backed away, and Regigigas went to the back wall, ripping out a large chunk of rock. "Oh my god…" Cynthia whispered. "When did _that_ get there?" For that rock that Regigigas just ripped out was actually blocking a passage-one that led to another chamber entirely!

"It's _been_ there," Articryo replied, walking into the chamber. "This is the Temple of Ice."

The Temple of Ice was beautiful, but also a cold and monumental place. The entire marble floor and every intricately carved column was coated with ice, trapping the aetherium crystals inside. Two larger than life statues of Articryo stood on each side, appearing to howl at the massive, light blue crystal hanging above them as part of a strange chandelier. But what truly caught Articryo's attention was what appeared to be a knight-and at the same time, a wolf! _What the heck is that?_ Articryo wondered. _This is a sanctuary for ice, and thus Articryo. So what's that doing here? Unless…_

Ben walked around the room, looking around at everything. "I was expecting something a bit less foreboding," he commented.

"It _does_ have an icy feel, though," Cynthia commented, shivering. "But…now that we're here, what should we do?"

"You could start by surrendering!" they suddenly heard a female voice shout. Then a jet of water blasted forth towards them.

"LOOK OUT!" Ben shouted, tackling Cynthia and Articryo to the ground. The water jet smashed into a column with enough force to shatter it entirely. However, the water pulled back in a wave, surging towards them. All of them jumped over it, but a cascade crashed down on top of them.

In the doorway stood Luna, sword pointed at them. "Well, if it isn't those people who attacked our lab. What are you doing here?"

"Defending it from _you_, that's what!" Ben replied.

"Defend?" Luna sniffed. "Why would that be necessary? This altar has a guard already…no, _four_ guards. And they all failed their mission."

Behind her, a Milotic, an Empoleon, a Sharpedo, a Poliwrath, and a Ludicolo were overwhelming Regigigas and the three Golems. "Oh my god, Regigigas!" Ben shouted. "He's getting owned!"

Articryo carefully sensed their _reiatsu_. _Crap, they're all Shadow. I should've asked Axel to give his Snag Machine to me!_ "Guess Axel was right that you'd come here," he said. "Unfortunately, this is the end of the road for you; you won't be able to get past us."

"Come at me with everything you have, then!" Luna shouted, raising her sword and gathering water at the tip.

* * *

_Cipher Admin Luna would like to battle (again)!_

Luna blasted water at Articryo, while Articryo froze the water. Rushing forward, Luna slashed at her adversary several times, but Articryo just used ice to block all of them, _**LIKE A BOSS**_. "This is easy!" Sam shouted. "Can't you put up more of a fight?"

"Just keep up that attitude, and you won't see another morning!" Luna shouted, blasting more water at him in a wave. Articryo froze it, but then Luna suddenly appeared behind him and slashed him.

"_Oni Giri!_" Ben shouted, dealing three slashes at Luna, cutting right through her. Except… Ben noticed quickly. "CRAP! IT WAS A MIRAGE!" Luna immediately appeared behind him and kicked him into a pillar.

"Garchomp, use Dragon Claw! And Togekiss, use Aura Sphere" Cynthia shouted. Garchomp flew forward and slashed at Luna, but she blocked the blow. Togekiss (yes, she had one which I never mentioned) raised her wing, charged up a blue sphere of energy at its tip, and sent it hurtling at Luna. However, a jet of water blasted into the Aura Sphere, destroying it.

Articryo brought icicles down on Luna, but she jumped out of the way, smashing him into the wall. "Had enough yet?" she shouted.

"As if!" Articryo shouted, jumping at her and launching several blue flames, cold and burning at the same time. Luna dodged all of them, but then Articryo launched a blast of lightning at her, again icy cold, which Luna blocked by raising water several meters in front of her. Then she sent that water at Articryo while the icy electricity was still running through it, electrocuting him (although it wasn't _too_ bad, since it was ice energy).

"_Ushi Bari_!" Ben shouted, rushing forth, but a veil of water surrounded Luna just as Ben appeared behind her. Several tiny holes appeared in the veil, but it was otherwise unharmed. Luna dropped the veil and jumped at him, slashing and causing a wave of water to blast Ben into the wall.

"Togekiss, Sky Attack!" Cynthia shouted. Togekiss began glowing with a white aura, which flowed out in a way that made her seem like her wings were growing. And then she rocked forth, white turning to red, the aura blasting anything in her path to bits.

Luna dodged it, but Togekiss flapped her wings quickly and whirled around. "This Togekiss is pretty good at using this move," Luna commented, jumping out of the way again. "It's a shame I don't have a Snag Ball or anything."

"I doubt Togekiss would enjoy that," Cynthia replied, holding up another Pokéball. "Garchomp, come back! Go, Lucario! Attack her with Bone Rush!" Lucario burst out of his Pokéball and didn't waste any time. He _instantly_ created a blue bone in his paws and swung it over his head, let out a battle cry, and rushed at Luna. Luna used one swift motion and shattered the bone, but then Lucario jumped up above her and launched several Aura Spheres. Togetic did the same. Luna merely walked out of the way of both of them, causing all the Aura Spheres to strike ice mirrors and smash into the two Pokémon.

"_Nigori Zake_ (Two Arm Strength Slash)_!_" Ben shouted, jumping at Luna, with his sword in his mouth and left hand held at the same angle, and the one in his right hand tilted at an angle. Luna held up her own sword to block the attack, but was _totally_ not prepared for all three blades to land in the exact same spot, and even _less_ prepared for the considerable weight of _Shusui_. She was sent flying to the edge of the cave. But Ben didn't stop attacking and jumped at her (_**LIKE A BOSS!**_), slashing and hacking with his three blades.

"It seems you're not too concerned about _Wado Ichimonji_ losing its beauty in the heat of battle," Luna commented, ducking underneath said blade and blasting water at Ben.

"Hey, saving the world bears more gravity than a sword!" Ben replied, speed vaulting over the wave. (Everyone gaped at that.) "Although it would really suck losing _Wado Ichimonji_; it's a _great_ sword!" He raised his arms and began to spin around, and a dragon-shaped aura suddenly surrounded him. "_Tatsu Maki_ (Dragon Twister)!"

A mad whirlwind began to whip up around Ben, sucking in Luna and slashing her with razor sharp gales. Luna winced. "What is this?"

"Your doom!" Ben shouted, jumping at her and crossing his arms. "_Oni…GIRI!"_ And he unleashed three massive slashes at Luna, which all hit. And killed the…MIRAGE? "NOT AGAIN!" Ben shouted before Luna kicked him into the wall. AGAIN.

Articryo attacked again, howling and blasting several beams of light which rapidly froze over. Luna just slid on the icy floor underneath them while they froze, then blasted a jet of water at Articryo. "Sub Zero Cannon!" Articryo shouted, blasting the aurora of light which froze almost instantaneously. But there was something bothering him: Sinnoh would be in even more danger than it already was in if he didn't win. But if he actually _los__t_, just what would be at stake?

* * *

_Back to Iron Island again…_

Hanna dashed through the cave, wondering if she was headed the right way. All she knew was that a very powerful life song was playing from the direction in which she was going. _I hope this is the right way…_

Almost immediately, she burst into a vast room full of crystal-like iron, spiking up in every direction. Gems and steel studded the ground, and pillars with said materials embedded inside rose up to the ceiling like church spires. Up above in the dark ceiling, gems twinkled like stars in a night sky. "It's like a fairy tale cave," Hanna whispered to herself.

"It might be considered that," she suddenly heard. A teenage boy stepped out from behind one of the pillars. "But then, fairy tales all need the 'happily ever after' ending. And I can't say for certain that's the one you'll get. But let's get to introductions first. I'm Rocky, and as you've probably figured out, I'm a Cipher Admin."

Hanna narrowed her eyes. The boy was tall and had brown hair, and dressed in a bunch of gray and black clothes. "What's with Cipher these days? All the Admins I've seen look like they should be in high school."

"Two of us aren't," Rocky replied. "The rest of us were children when we were brought into Cipher."

"Cipher used _kids_ for things?" Hanna wondered, not believing it.

"We weren't there for anything like operations," Rocky said. "Though we were trained to do those when we grew up. Our parents apparently wanted their kids to get into the act."

"But we defeated Cipher before you could do so," Hanna said. "Why did you become a Cipher Admin, though, if you were meant to be just another minion?"

"Because Cipher was in _complete and utter_ turmoil after the last time we were stopped," Rocky replied. "We were considered the best qualified to do so, so we became Admins just like that. Now are you going to keep stalling, or can we begin the fight?"

_Cipher Admin Rocky would like to battle!_

Hanna raised her sword and wordlessly released _Ateru no Uta_. She then sent a blast of sound (which strangely rippled as it traveled through the air) at Rocky, which he dodged (yes, big logic hole there), allowing it to smash hard into the wall and crack it. Rocky thrust his hand at a crystal, which yanked itself out of the ground and hurled itself at Hanna. Staring at it for a few seconds, Hanna rushed forward and slashed the crystal in half, then immediately attacked Rocky.

Rocky jumped out of the way and called another crystal to his hand, which he tried to stab Hanna with, but Hanna slashed that too and sent another blast of sound at him. "You appear to want to kill me with music," Rocky commented as he dodged again, causing massive cracks to appear in another wall.

"Do you like the music?" Hanna asked smugly. Rocky responded by sending five more crystals flying at Hanna, and then more crumpled around his hands, forming guantlets. Hanna slashed all the crystals, but then Rocky attempted to punch her, but that was an unsuccessful attempt, because Hanna Fullbrought the ground between them, causing it to spike up and block Rocky's attack long enough for her to whirl around and counterattack with another blast of sound. Rocky jumped away, causing yet another wall to be destroyed.

Hanna whipped around and raised her sword, and it began to glow light blue, emitting pale blue light. "I think you'll like this song even better!" She began to unleash a continous stream of blasts, some slow but powerful, others quick and light. Rocky narrowed his eyes and began to run out of the way of the blasts as they crashed into a pillar, smashing it, and cracked several walls.

Next, Rocky pointed at the rubble from the pillar and sent all of it flying at Hanna. Hanna jumped out of the way, allowing the rubble to crash into a pillar and shatter it. Then Hanna Fullbrought a cluster of crystals, causing them to shoot out at Rocky, but Rocky used his own power to turn them around and send them flying back. Just jumping out of the way, Hanna slashed at Rocky again, but he sidestepped the attack and then thrust his hand out at the giant crystal. It began to shake, but otherwise did not move; apparently, it didn't listen to Rocky very well. Rocky sighed and just threw several punches at Hanna, shooting crystal out with each one, but Hanna just sidestepped each one.

"You know, I think you should have noticed by now," Rocky said. "Haven't you noticed how cracked the walls are?"

"What're you getting at?" Hanna wondered. Suddenly, she realized. "Oh my god, you didn't-"

Rocky threw up his hand, and before Hanna could even react, the entire cavern collapsed on them, causing thousands of rocks to plummet down. "I'll be safe with my power of rock," Rocky shouted over the crashing stones. "But what're you going to do about it?" Before Hanna _could _do anything about it, though, a rock smashed against the back of her skull, knocking her out.

**To Be Continued**

* * *

**Random Bonus Story…XD**

**Myself, Axel Nightblazer…In a Nutshell! =D**

The sun came up on a bright new day. And I, of course, was sleeping in. (My mood: -_-) It took me a really long time to get up, but not too long to have breakfast. Then I went over to the computer to check the reviews for the previous chapters of _Shadows of the Demon_.

"Funny as H*ll, great story so some have 2 elementals like Silver?" "Nice chapter... and I do love Yugioh too! I don't care, I love the power of duel monsters…Anyway, can't wait for the next and that's going to hurt for Ben being attack by SUPER CHARGE SHOOTING SONIC!" "2+2... XD I especially like the Cipher Admins these days. Luna, Gaea, the frosty dude... Don Panini..." (My mood: ^_^) Except then… "...Thanks, and update." (My mood: D:)

Hurrying to the Battle Tower with Daikenki, Ninetails, and Pikachu, I quickly met a trainer that actually plowed through 20 trainers already. I took him out quickly with Ninetails; he had Abomasnow, Sceptile, and Metagross, so it wasn't hard. (My mood: :D)

I jumped onto my motorcycle which actually floats (on which I can play card games) after lunch to head to the Mushroom Kingdom to visit Mario, but as I was on my way, some guy challenged me to a Children's Card game on Motorcycles. (My mood: D:) Here's how it ended:

Me: "By returning Nitro Warrior's ATK to 2,800, I activate his effect. By doing that, epic background music will play, your Labyrinth Wall will switch to attack mode, and Nitro Warrior will be able to attack that monster with Dynamite Impact, **ALLOWING ME TO WIN THIS CHILDREN'S CARD GAME ON MOTORCYCLES!** XD"

And I did win. Obviously.

Mario and co. weren't around when I arrived at Peach's castle, so I decided to fool around a bit while they weren't there. I grabbed blue and silver spray paint cans and sprayed on one of the walls, "AKSAL NITEBLAZR WUZ HEER" (My mood: lolface) While killing time, I started doing parkour stunts: rolls, backflips, wall spins, you get the picture. I launched myself out of a tree, and, just because I could, turned around and did a backwards roll, coming out in a moonwalk, _**LIKE A BOSS!**_ (My mood: XD)

Running around in Bomb-omb Battlefield, I noticed a bunch of Goombas. I used my _Zanpaku-to_ to take most of them out, and then tried to football tackle the last one. (My mood: =D…?) And guess what? I was holding a Bomb-omb. (My mood: O_o)

**EARTH SHATTERING KABOOOOOOOOOOM!**

I got up, hurting all over, but then I saw the last Goomba, and chucked him over the moon, _**LIKE A BOSS**_. But then I looked at another part of Bomb-omb Battlefield, and saw 9001 Goombas waiting there. (My mood: T_T)

It was late in the afternoon as I arrived at the Strike Witches' base (which is in ANOTHER DIMENSION entirely). But Mio was training Yoshika, Lynne, and Perrine, Shirley was modifying her Strikers, Sanya, Eila, Lucchini and Erica were sleeping, and Trude and Minna were going to war with paperwork. I looked for Rinna, but she apparently was not around at the time. So I just snatched two piles of paperwork from Minna's desk and removed them from existence. (My mood: LOL)

But as I was heading back to Eterna, suddenly, a Garganta opened up, and a Vasto Lorde came out! I had to battle him, but fortunately, he was nothing my awesome Shikai couldn't take care of. (My mood: =D…X_X) Man, though, I was REALLY tired at the time!

And then, at long last, I headed to bed, dropping in. It had been a big day. But then I looked up, and saw a full moon. Which, for some reason, looked like a lolface. (My mood: O_o/lolface)

* * *

**And that was Axel Nightblazer (myself) in a nutshell! Happy birthday to me! Yay! =D (NOTE: All reviews at the section where I went to were real. Sorry, person who said "Thanks, and update", but I do _NOT_ approve of people who ask me to update. Because then...well, look up "What NOT to say to LuigiGame2" on Youtube and you'll find out.)**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, because if you didn't, then I can't write…**_**LIKE A BOSS**_**.**

**And, just when you thought I stopped bugging you about this…(sucks in massive breath)**

**RREEEEEVIIIIEEEEEEEEWWW!~**


	30. HARDCORE PARKOUR!

**New character time! Yay! Who does parkour! So that must mean he's awesome! :D**

**Before anyone asks, I do parkour. I'm actually not GOOD at it yet, but I do it nonetheless. So now that I'm actually DOING parkour, I decided now would be a pretty good time to put in a character which Aeron actually created some time ago, but hasn't truly been introduced yet, who is based off of the guy who taught him (and me) some parkour moves.**

**And…THIS TOOK AN ENTIRE MONTH TO WRITE! (goes into shame corner) As you can tell, I am more bogged down thanks to SCHOOL. And by Summer, I need to relax, so time crawls then, too. Sorry, everyone. D:**

**And another reference to Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged. Sorry, LittleKuriboh, for continuously creating lame, uninspired animated movies starring B-list celebrities that blatantly rip off vastly superior Pixar movie-wait a minute, what the heck am I doing? I mean, sorry for using your ideas without permission.**

**Well, crap. I just ran out of subject matter. ^_^ Okay, read away!**

* * *

As the stones finished raining down, Rocky lowered his arms. "Alright, she should have been eliminated by all that…" He turned towards the massive white crystal nearby. "Now to corrupt this thing." Rocky grabbed some complicated machine that he had hidden in a place where it wouldn't be hit in the falling rubble. "Augh, the instructions are in _Dutch,_" he complained.

"Lord Rocky!" a Cipher Peon shouted. "Axel Nightblazer and Aeron Solo are almost here! And wh-"

"Then stall them," Rocky ordered. "Retreat and regroup just outside the cave. By the way, do you know any Dutch?"

"Uh…yeah! I do!" the Cipher Peon said. "But why?"

"I need a translator right now," Rocky explained, holding up the machine instructions. "_Someone_ put it in Dutch, god knows why."

"Yes sir. Hey, wait…" the Cipher Peon stopped and cocked his head to the right, listening intensly. "Do you hear something?"

* * *

_Right outside the cave…_

"Sigh…this is boring," one man complained.

"I wouldn't mind if there was a bit of excitement in this job," his partner agreed. "I think I saw someone dart past us, but it sounds like Lord Rocky took care of him or her."

"Wait a minute, what's that?" the first Cipher Peon asked, pointing. Some teenage guy with brown hair in dark violet was dashing towards them. "Hey! Stop! This place is off limits!" the Cipher Peon shouted.

"LOVELY WEATHER!" the boy shouted, jumping up and spinning in midair, dealing both a punch and a kick to the head, knocking the Cipher Peon out.

"Hey, you can't do that to Tim!" the other Cipher Peon shouted. You'd think he'd challenge the boy to a Pokémon battle, except…he just stood there.

"TIP YOUR WAITRESS!" the boy shouted, landing in front of him and doing a backflip, kicking the Cipher Peon into the wall while doing so. The boy landed and continued running into the cavern. "Why the heck did I say all that, anyway?" he wondered to himself.

"Wait, what?" Rocky shouted, whirling. "Who's there?"

"HARDCORE PARKOUR TIME!" the guy shouted, placing a hand on a rock and speed-vaulting over it, swinging his feet and smashing them into the Cipher Peon's chest, sending him flying into a wall.

Rocky growled and waved his hand, causing rocks to burst up and fly at the boy, but he jumped out of the way of all of them. "Who are you, and why are you interfering with our plans?" Rocky demanded.

"Just a good Samaritan who was passing by," the boy replied, before doing a roll which brought him right in front of Rocky. "You guys from Cipher are jerks, so I decided to come in and bust some heads."

"Ugh…" The rock began to shift, and Hanna crawled out, rubbing the area on her head which the rock had crashed into. "That _really_ hurt…" She looked up and suddenly saw the boy. "Wha-when did you get here?"

"I just did," the boy replied. "Got Axel's distress call." And then, suddenly, his clothes melted away to reveal a dark violet _shihakusho_ and a Captain's _haori_ with the _kanji_ for eight. "Okay, man! Ready to battle Eddie Adreguidez AKA the 8th Origin Captain AKA the most awesome guy at parkour EVER?"

"…So what you're saying is you have three different titles, one of which sounds like a name," Rocky noted, with a mocking tone on the last part.

"HUH? NO YOU IDIOT! THE FIRST THING I SAID WAS MY NAME!" Eddie ranted, actually unsheathing his Zanpaku-to and waving it in the air as he freaked out.

"Eddie, are you even taking this seriously?" Hanna asked, sweatdropping. "You look like you're freaking out on Axel or Aeron ruining your Halo Reach profile or whatever. And we're dealing with CIPHER, for god's sake! Take things a bit more seriously here!"

"Sheesh, Hanna, you make me sound pathetic!" Eddie growled. "So…you wanna fight?" he asked, turning back to the admin, grinning.

"…he _really_ isn't taking this seriously," Hanna muttered.

Rocky sighed and chucked a huge rock at Eddie. "He doesn't seem like much…this should take care of him quickly," he muttered to himself.

Except you can guess what happened. Eddie did a cartwheel and rolled out of the way, then vaulted into the air with a handspring, avoiding many spikes of rock. Then when more rocks came towards him, he quickly adjusted his position so his feet planted firmly on the wall, and sprang off it, allowing the rocks to crash into the wall. "Come on, come on!" Eddie shouted, planting his feet on a pillar and running UP it(!), allowing the rocks to crash into the pillar. "Is that the best you got?"

_So he's using those moves to dodge all my attacks, eh?_ Rocky thought to himself. _But so far, he's never used those moves for offense. I guess he's trying to wear me down by exhausting myself. But that defeats the logic in itself, because moves like that cost much more energy! So, Adreguidez…_you'll_ be the one to run out of energy first!_ "Take this!" he shouted, and snapped his fingers.

"WAAAAAAAAAAH!" Eddie shouted, as the pillar exploded into a massive cloud of rock and dust. Rocky pointed, and the remains of it surged towards where he knew Eddie was at alarming speeds. "Geez…he finally made me use my _Zanpaku-to_!" the Admin heard Eddie mutter as he raised his sword and slashed all the rocks to pieces.

"Now!" Rocky shouted, causing earth spikes to burst up where Eddie was going to land. "Prepare to get impaled!"

"Oh no! I'm going to die! I'm going to…LIVE," Eddie suddenly called out loudly…BEHIND Rocky. Rocky whirled around with an "Oh Crap!" face. "I hope you know that while I was on the pillar, when you caused it to collapse, I jumped onto a stalactite and clung on, where you couldn't see me. And because destroying the pillar made so much dust, you couldn't see me anyway!" Eddie explained.

"Impossible!" Rocky shouted. "I heard your voice from inside the dust cloud! There's no way you could have been up there…"

"Maybe your ears are just bad," Eddie replied, grinning. "By the way, Hanna, feeling better from being conked on the head yet?"

"Yeah. It doesn't hurt as much now," Hanna replied, getting up. Her _Shikai_'s blades were still glowing brilliantly. "Alright, shall we go two on one?"

"Bring it on!" Rocky shouted, blasting rocks at them. The two Origin Captains quickly dashed out of the way, and then Hanna whirled, launching a blast of sound at Rocky. Rocky jumped out of the way, but then Eddie was running on the wall behind him. Eddie leaped down to strike, but Rocky caught his sword and hurled him at the wall, although Eddie landed on both feet (and his hand) and ran at him again.

Hanna suddenly whipped up her blades behind Rocky, and the Admin had to hurl himself to the ground to avoid the blades. He jumped back up and sent several spires of rock hurtling up at Eddie and Hanna, who both jumped away, allowing the spires to strike the wall. Blue light suddenly pulsed out from underneath Hanna's feet, and she appeared right next to Rocky in a flash, striking at him once again. "Some flashy _Shun-po_ you got," Rocky commented, jumping out of the way.

"What _Shun-po_?" Hanna asked, before blue light appeared around her feet again and she appeared behind Rocky. "We call this 'Bringer Light'." And then she kicked him into the wall, where Eddie ran at him to continue the fight.

"Bringer Light?" Rocky muttered, launching himself away from the wall to avoid Eddie's attack. "I've never heard of it!"

Eddie jumped off the wall, bringing his sword down in many complicated combos. "Hanna's a Fullbringer, see? Fullbringers are able to alter the Heart Songs of all things so their properties change. And if you're wondering, all things actually give off a song which no one can hear other than Fullbringers. Hanna Fullbrought the air underneath her to get closer to you."

"So that's a Fullbringer's power…" Rocky growled. "They're so powerful…is this the way all Origin Captains are?"

* * *

_Meanwhile, in Snowpoint Temple…_

A hopeless battle was raging inside the hidden chamber. No matter what they tried, Articryo, Cynthia, and Ben were all outmatched completely by Luna, as wave after wave of water rocked the chamber.

Outside, in the main chamber, things were going equally bad, as Regigigas sparred with a Poliwrath that enhanced each punch with shadow energy. His three servants were all occupied, with Regice being sliced continuously by a Shadow Empoleon, while Regirock was losing every mite of energy he had to a Ludicolo. A Milotic and a Sharpedo bombarded Registeel constantly, and though they didn't really have a type advantage, their Shadow moves were overwhelming the golem.

"Spiritomb, Milotic, Roserade!" Cynthia shouted. "Use Dark Pulse, Surf, and Energy Ball! Go!" Spiritomb gathered dark energy and blasted a pulse of it at Luna, shortly followed by Milotic rearing back and summoning yet another wave. And then, Roserade raised both arms and created twin balls of energy (one red, one blue) and blasted both at Luna.

"Futile!" Luna shouted, vaulting over each attack. "All your efforts won't work against me. Somehow, Cynthia, I expected better of you."

Cynthia frowned. "This isn't working. Ben, can you do anything?"

"GIVE ME A F*bleep*IN' FIRE POKEMON, IF YOU WANT ME TO DO ANYTHING!" Ben shouted. "SO I CAN PERFORM F*bleep*IN' _YAKI_ _ONI GIRI_!"

"How would _that_ help against Luna, though?" Cynthia asked. "She controls _water_. Fire wouldn't do anything!"

"It could…uh…evaporate her water!" Ben suggested. "So if we were able to generate hot enough flames, we'd OBVIOUSLY be able to defeat her! Go, Heatran! Use Magma Storm!"

Except…did anyone forget that Heatran fainted against Regigigas last chapter? :D "Nice job, Ben," Articryo called sarcastically as the unconscious Heatran fell like a falling star, crashing into the floor of the temple and pretty much creating an earth shattering kaboom.

"D'oh!" Ben muttered, calling back Heatran. "Okay, go, Infernape!" Infernape leaped out of his Pokéball and…uh…beat his chest or something while roaring? "Use INCINERATE!" Ben shouted. (Wait, did he just use a Generation V move?) Infernape literally ignited, the flames on his head going blue, and he blasted a massive jet of flame out at Luna.

Luna quickly attempted to shoot water at the blast to extinguish it, but it was so hot that the water evaporated quickly. So she just jumped over it. "I don't see what you meant to achieve through that," she commented.

"GOTCHA!" Ben shouted, jumping in front of the flame stream and catching the fire on his swords. "_YAKI ONI GIRI!_ (Burning Demon Slash)" And he raised his swords, doing two perpendicular slashes and a third that bisected them, sending three different fire waves at Luna.

"What in…? Grilled Rice Balls?" Luna shouted as she dodged the flames by sidestepping one, ducking under another and leaping over the third, allowing all of them to crash into the wall, shattering the pillars behind her, as well as a statue of Articryo. (NOTE: _Yaki Oni Giri_ also means Grilled Rice Balls. Remember the translation for _Oni Giri…_)

"No! My epic statue!" Articryo shouted, ticked off now. "You're going to get owned for destroying a monument to a real hero!"

"Real hero?" Luna repeated, and then she snorted. "Are you really sure you're truly a real hero? Inside, even _you_ have your insecurities, Sam. No human is born without them. No Pokémon, or Archangel, or Aetheraean, either."

…

"Duh, what's an Aetheraean?" Ben asked, making himself sound like an idiot by saying "Duh".

Luna sighed. "You mean you've been standing next to one all the time, and you _never_ noticed he wasn't human? One Aetheraean…who, to this day, is still alive, is Axel Nightblazer."

"WHAT?" Ben shouted. "AXEL'S NOT HUMAN? BUT HE ACTS COMPLETELY LIKE ONE! I MEAN, COME ON, HE MAKES HORRIBLE JOKES, HE EATS PIZZA 25/7, HE SPENDS WAY TOO MUCH TIME PLAYING VIDEO GAMES… OKAY, MAYBE HE'S TECHNICALLY A _SHINIGAMI_, BUT MOST OF THEM ARE HUMAN, TOO! HOW MUCH OTHER PROOF DO YOU NEED THAT HE'S HUMAN?"

"There are only 24 hours in a day," Luna pointed out. "And anyway, although they may seem very human, Aetheraeans are not human in any way. Think about it. In spite of his laziness, surely you've noticed his inhuman reflexes in battle? And how even for a _Shinigami_, he moves extremely fast _without Shun-po_. In addition, this is very insignificant, but you've never won against him in Duel Monsters."

"…so? That just means he's really strong!" Ben replied. "Humans can be that strong, right?"

"But consider this: No one else you know has the grace that he and his brother possess in anything they do, correct?" Luna asked, taking a step forward. "Even when they act so immaturely, their movements are always graceful, true?"

"…well, maybe Axel and Aeron have style! A LOT of it!" Ben argued. "Seriously, none of your arguments make sense!"

"We're getting _very_ off topic," Luna decided. "The point is, there's nothing that doesn't have his or her hidden insecurities. Real hero or not, you're not going to be able to deny it."

"Heh! You're all talk!" Articryo shouted, jumping at Luna. "I'll just beat you here, and we'll see about this 'insecurities' thing!"

With alarming speed, Luna blasted Articryo with a _Bakudo_, then grabbed him and tossed him at the other statue, smashing it to smithereens. "I'll knock you out of your transformation here and now!" Luna shouted, blasting massive shots of water again and again. They began to freeze over at first, but the constant hammering of the water eventually overwhelmed the icy force. Luna thrust out her hand, glowing with a dark purple aura. "_Hado no Kyuju-Kurohitsugi!"_ she shouted, and black panels quickly shot up out of the ground, creating a black coffin that suddenly spiked up in places, slashing Articryo. And when he finally emerged, he was just Sam again.

"WHOA SHE REALLY _DID_ KNOCK SAM OUT OF HIS TRANSFORMATION!" Ben shouted.

"Ergh…" Sam growled and got up, raising his Pokédex. "I can go right back into Resurrection form, though-" But suddenly, everything began to darken around Sam. "Whoa, what?" Sam shouted. Ben, Cynthia, Luna, and her Pokémon were all slowing down until they were at a standstill.

"_Be at peace, Sam. Charging in recklessly isn't the answer to _all_ of your problems."_

Sam freaked out for a moment about how there was a weird voice behind him, then calmed down to see standing behind him…none other than Dialga. "Whoa! Dialga! What are you doing here?"

The Temporal Pokémon began to advance. _"I must congratulate you, Sam. To become the herald of the Ice Elemental, and to gain the power of a force that exceeds even me in age…it truly is outstanding. Your Pokémon, and your own newfound expertise in battle, are enough to show that we truly are equals."_

"Well, of course, because I'm a rea-" Sam began.

"_Not yet,"_ Dialga interrupted. (Wait, he didn't freak out about Sam calling himself a real hero?) _"You haven't found this out yet because you've never encountered other Elementals, but…there's an even greater evolution in store for you."_

"An even greater evolution?" Sam repeated, bewildered. "So I'm not that awesome already?"

"_Unlike Legendary Pokémon like myself, the Elementals can evolve to even greater strengths,"_ Dialga explained. _"We call this the 'Champion Resurrection'. It'll grant you _far_ greater power than your current form will."_

"Awesome! But…how do I obtain the Champion Resurrection?" Sam asked. "Do I have to-"

"_Come, Resurrect," _Dialga ordered. He bent down, sucked in a breath, and then reared back and howled. _"In order to awaken your Champion Resurrection, you…shall battle with me! Come, Sam!"_

"A battle…with Dialga…" Sam breathed. He clenched his fist. "If I want to win against Luna, I'll need it! Okay, Dialga, bring it on!"

* * *

_Meanwhile (AGAIN), at Sunyshore…_

"Whoa…" Uryu stared at the large, mottled purple sphere that surrounded Sunyshore. "It's still hard to believe this happened."

"But there's something I don't understand," Haku said. "What's the point of this Corruption Bomb, anyway? Is it to quickly corrupt all Pokémon over a massive area?"

"There's something kind of weird about that, though…" Chad muttered. "Didn't those Cipher Peons say that they were wearing special armor to protect themselves from its effects?"

"I wonder if we can go in there?" Orihime wondered, taking a step inside the Corruption Sphere. Suddenly, Orhime screamed, and shadowy tendrils began to encircle her body.

"Orihime!" Volkner shouted, and he quickly pulled her out of the Sphere. "I don't think we can go in there safely," he muttered.

"But where's the temple, exactly?" Chad asked, looking inside the Corruption Sphere. "Volkner, you've been here twice. Where do we have to go?"

"…oh, s*bleep*," Volkner cursed. "We can't go in there, but we _have_ to. The Temple is in a forest that is currently WITHIN THE CORRUPTION SPHERE."

"Great," Uryu muttered. "So what do we do? And anyway, Orihime, do you know what happened just now with those?"

Orihime took a moment to think of how to put it, and then said, "I think those tendrils were trying to do mind control or something. When they grabbed me, my mind started going completely crazy."

"Maybe…" Haku frowned. "It corrupts _anything _that lives and spends too much time within it? If that's the case…then we'll have to move _extremely_ fast."

"Okay, ready?" Volkner asked, standing up. "Go!" And everyone dashed into the Corruption Sphere. The black tendrils rose up to grab them, but Uryu whirled and shot arrows at each one, killing them. "You can't hold all of them off!" Volkner shouted as more rose from the ground, up from buildings, etc. "Just keep moving, Uryu!"

"So we can't buy time, eh?" Uryu asked, continuing to run. "This complicates things a _lot_. It would be much quicker if we could all use _Hireyenkyaku…_"

"Wait, what's that up ahead?" Chad asked, pointing. Up ahead, an army of random Pokémon was assembled. And they were all Shadow Pokémon. Chad quickly materialized _Brazo Derecha del Gigante _and _Brazo Izquierda del Diablo_. "_El Directo! La Muerte!_" Chad shouted, and blue energy gathered behind the giant shield on his right arm before shooting out of his fist, and blue lighting crackled around his left hand, as he punched, sending a skull shaped blast at them. Both crashed into the Pokémon, sending them flying into walls.

"Don't you think that was a bit harsh?" Orihime asked as they ran past the fallen Pokémon.

"There was nothing else I could do," Chad replied. "At least Pokémon Centers exist, so when this place goes back to normal, they can be attended to."

Volkner suddenly noticed some civilian walking towards them LIKE A ZOMBIE (O_o). "Hey! What are you doing out here?" he shouted. "It's dangerous to be-"

The civilian let out a primal cry and staggered towards them, trying to grab them. Everyone freaked out, and Haku punched him away. "Come on! Other civilians are coming in our direction!" he shouted. "We can stare in awe later! Right now, all that matters is getting to the Sanctuary!"

* * *

_Meanwhile (AGAIN WITH THE MEANWHILE! DX), at the Sanctuary in Eterna…_

Cipher Peons were wondering what the heck to do with the machine (guess what language the instructions were in?), as Aerín dashed into the temple. As soon as she saw them, the first idea that came into her head was to just launch a battle cry and charge in recklessly, except Starly, Torchic and Swablu quickly reminded her that she didn't have enough power to take on all the Mooks. "Okay, time for Plan B!" Aerín declared a bit too loudly.

ALL the Cipher Peons noticed her at that point. "_Um…what IS Plan B, anyway?"_ Torchic asked.

"…I was going to come up with it just now…" Aerín said meekly. "RUN AWAY!" She and her Pokémon quickly ran away, with the Cipher Peons running after her, screaming battle cries.

"Stay back!" one Cipher Peon shouted to another one. "Keep trying to figure out how to use the machine! You're the only one here who knows any Dutch!"

Aerín suddenly got an idea and grabbed a rock, chucking it at the Cipher Peon who supposedly knew Dutch. It crashed against his skull and knocked him out instantly. "There! Now you can't use the machine!" she declared triumphantly.

"Aw s*bleep*!" a Cipher Peon shouted. "Oh wait, we still have the power of…GOOGLE TRANSLATE!" He held up a laptop as if it were the most epic thing ever.

"I hope you realize that Google Translate is horribly inaccurate," Aerín called out. The Cipher Peon instantly cursed as a translation that made NO SENSE whatsoever came up. "So…can I break that machine?" Aerín asked sweetly.

"H*bleep* NO!" a Cipher Peon shouted. "GET HER! GO, DRAPION! BASTIODON!" The Shield Pokémon and the Ogre Scorp Pokémon rushed out and both charged towards Aerín.

"~" Aerín screamed, and she somehow jumped over the attack, despite the fact that the Pokémon were REALLY big. "Uh oh, the Pokémon I have on hand right now REALLY aren't gonna help here!" she worried. "Uh…well, no point in not trying! Go! Torchic! Use Amber-uh, I mean, Ember!"

Torchic burst out of his Pokéball and blasted a stream of cinders at Drapion, but Drapion swiftly dodged and smashed Torchic into the wall with a claw glowing with poison. "Ha! To think you're using a Torchic which you probably got barely a month ago against my well-trained Drapion!" the Cipher Peon laughed.

"Torchic, return!" Aerín shouted, calling back the Chick Pokémon. "Go, Swablu! Use Sing!" Swablu sang a sweet lullaby, which quickly lulled Drapion and Bastiodon to sleep. "Now use Aerial Ace!" Aerín ordered. Swablu flew at Drapion, then quickly executed numerous random maneuvers before disappearing, then reappearing and smashing into Drapion hard (but not hard enough).

"Tch! Pathetic strategy!" the Cipher Peon shouted, grabbing a blue flute of volcanic glass and blowing into it, its notes startling and waking up Drapion and Bastiodon. "Bastiodon, use Giga Impact!" Bastiodon charged recklessly at Swablu, so quickly that white energy was gathering around him. Then Bastiodon crashed so hard into Swablu that the Cotton Bird Pokémon went flying into the wall…and it shattered, sending Swablu crashing into the forests outside.

"No! Swablu!" Aerín ran outside to the Cotton Bird Pokémon. "Swablu, are you alright?" Swablu let out a small groan before fainting.

"You see? You don't stand a chance against us!" the Cipher Peon laughed. "Go, Kanghaskan! Finish her! OUTRAGE!" Kanghaskan burst out and roared, becoming surrounded by a white aura, blasting out energy fueled by utter primal rage.

Aerín quickly grabbed Swablu and began to jump over the attacks…at Kanghaskan. "Hup!" she shouted, jumping off of Kanghaskan's head. The Parent Pokémon roared in annoyance, but she rage had completely consumed it, and she turned on _the Cipher Peon that used her._

"AUGH!" the Cipher Peon shouted, falling back from Kanghaskan's massive punch. "Ugh…after using Outrage, Kanghaskan's confused…but my Yellow Flute should take care of that!" he muttered as he began to reach into his pocket for a Yellow Flute…but suddenly, there was a flash, and the Yellow Flute was gone! "WHOA WHAT?" the Cipher Peon shouted.

"Thanks for your items!" Aerín called, as a _Staraptor_ landed on her arm, holding a Lansat Berry, the Yellow Flute, and a Revive in his beak.

"WHAT?" the Cipher Peon shouted. "SHE HAS A STARAPTOR?"

"Every chance we got," Aerín explained, "when we were going through that big field of grass, back to Uncle Axel's house, to that lab you had, and then back here in Eterna, I trained Staraptor as much as I could. He used to be my weakest Pokémon…but now he's my strongest!"

"And his level is…" the Cipher Peon quickly pulled out a Pokédex to take a look. "_44? _That means it knows-"

"Agility," Aerín finished. "Staraptor used it several times to raise his speed enough to take your items. Now, here's why I took the Revive." She popped it into Swablu's mouth, and the Cotton Bird Pokémon jumped up, eager to continue fighting. "Swablu! Use Natural Gift!" Aerín commanded.

"Natural Gift?" the Cipher Peon shouted. "What good is that?"

"Oh yeah, and here, take this," Aerín added, giving Swablu the Lansat Berry. Swablu gobbled it up, then flapped her wings, a lavender aura surrounding her, and dove at Kanghaskan, winds rushing around her. Kanghaskan was sent flying into Bastiodon, and they both were left quite dazed from the attack.

"Urgh…" the Cipher Peon growled. "Drapion, use Poison Fang!" But as Drapion, its teeth glowing purple, tried time and again to bite Swablu, she was just too quick for the Ogre Scorp Pokémon.

"See? I _do_ stand a chance against you!" Aerín shouted gleefully. "Staraptor, attack! Brave Bird!" Staraptor pulled in his wings and dove down like a human-er, Pokémon missile, his body bursting into flames. Then, he flapped his wings, surrounding himself with a blue aura, and he slammed hard into Kanghaskan. When the glow faded, light blue sparks ran up Staraptor's wings as he was struck by the recoil. "And Swablu, use Solarbeam!" Aerín shouted. Swablu began to pull in sunlight through her wings…

"Ha!" another Cipher Peon shouted. "There's no way you could do anything with _that_ move! After all, it's not that sunn-"

* * *

_Meanwhile (T_T), in Eterna City…_

Drakanohi wheeled through the sky, whipping away Cipher Peons with his tail. "Arboreon, that Walrein's gonna be trouble. She's a Shadow Pokémon and has full EVs. Take him out!" he shouted.

"Right!" Arboreon shouted, raising her hand. The clouds parted as sunlight shone harshly down on the city. "Take THIS!" Arboreon shouted, whirling the sunlight around her hands and blasting twin Solarbeams out at the Walrein, knocking her out. "Come on!" Arboreon shouted, grabbing her staff and charging at a Garchomp. "We can't let this city fall to Cipher!"

* * *

_Meanwhile (what the heck's with my word choice?), back at the Sanctuary…_

The sun's rays shone intensely down on the Sanctuary. "OH SHI-" the Cipher Peon who was interrupted by the sudden increase in sun began.

Swablu opened her beak and blasted a massive beam of light, smashing Kanghaskan and Bastiodon into the wall. Both of them fainted. "Oh, now you've REALLY done it! Drapion!" the Cipher Peon shouted. "Attack with Cross Poison and Crunch!" Dark energy gathered around Drapion's teeth, and poison accumulated at his claws. Drapion roared, and suddenly the dark energy and poison multiplied as he charged forward recklessly at Staraptor.

"Staraptor, dodge it!" Aerín shouted. Staraptor flapped his wings and attempted to fly up, but suddenly, Drapion shoved a claw against his own neck, and then appeared in front of Staraptor so quickly that the Predator Pokémon had no time at all to dodge Drapion's teeth. "Staraptor!" Aerín shouted in horror as Drapion quickly dealt twin slashes with his claws. "Why did that Drapion's speed and power suddenly increase so quickly?"

"Heh…you should have noticed sooner!" the Cipher Peon laughed. "Drapion's a Shadow Pokémon; he just went into Reverse Mode! In addition, he used Acupressure to raise his speed! And now, your Staraptor's toast! Drapion, use VENOSHOCK!"

"Venoshock?" Aerín repeated. Drapion roared, and then spit out a dark purple liquid at Staraptor. Staraptor screeched as the liquid entered his system, then fainted.

"Venoshock's effect is to drench the opponent in a liquid that is even more deadly when the target is poisoned!" the Cipher Peon laughed. "Now you have no chance! Drapion, attack Swablu!"

Drapion rushed forward with a Cross Poison attack, and Swablu had to fly fast in order to keep ahead of his swift claws. Drapion pinched his neck again and in a second, was bearing down on Swablu TOO fast for Swablu to dodge. Both claws crashed into Swablu, poisoning her. "No! Swablu!" Aerín shouted as poison entered Swablu's system.

"And now, finish it!" the Cipher Peon shouted. "Take this! Shadow END!" Drapion rushed forward, shadowy aura surrounding him, and recklessly rammed Swablu again and again, ignoring all the pain he was causing himself. But Swablu could still stand at the end… "Now Swablu's Poisoned Status will defeat her!" the Cipher Peon laughed.

"Swablu, return!" Aerín shouted, recalling Swablu. But then, everyone saw at the last second, light gathered around Swablu, healing her of her poisoning. "And come back out!" Swablu emerged once again, completely unpoisoned.

"Urgh! She used Swablu's Natural Cure ability to get rid of the poison!" the Cipher Peon shouted. "Drapion, attack! Shadow Storm!"

"Swablu, dodge it and use FIRE BLAST!" Aerín shouted, emphasizing this order with a punch in the air. Swablu flew out of the way of a MASSIVE typhoon of shadow, and then gathered flames at her beak, blasting them at Drapion and flying away before a five-pointed cross of fire burst from Drapion's face as he fainted.

Suddenly, the big white crystal (remember it? :D) at the center shone brightly, and white waves washed over Drapion, returning him to being a normal Pokémon. "WHAT? HOW THE HECK-" The Cipher Peon shouted as he reached up to recall Drapion, Bastiodon, and Kanghaskan, but then suddenly Swablu destroyed all three Pokéballs; then, just for fun, grabbed a Full Restore and sprayed herself with it, healing herself of all injuries. "HEY!" the Cipher Peon shouted.

"This little girl's REALLY interfering with our plans!" another Cipher Peon growled. "I'll have to end it! Go, Hydreigon!"

"Hydreigon? What's that?" Aerín wondered as a three-headed, dragon-like Pokémon emerged who seemed to be born from a nightmare. He had six wings on his back, and on Hydreigon's neck was a flower-like collar which opened up to his head. His hands harbored a head in each one. There were small collars on the inside of Hydreigon's hands. On his abdomen were two stripes. His feet had no claws, but rather two or three small toes. His tail also sported a stripe with a tuft on the end of it.

Except this Hydreigon wasn't like any other. His heads, his abdomen, his feet, and his tail, instead of the dark blue they used to be, were now deep crimson. His collar, claws, and the stripes on his abdomen and tail were a mottled purple. His eyes glowed deep red, and the rest of his body was pitch black. The Brutal Pokémon let out a primal roar, one as if wrenched up from the depths of his soul. "Fall before this Demon Pokémon!" the Cipher Peon shouted furiously. "Go, Hydreigon! Destroy her! Shadow Charge!"

Hydreigon roared, shadow energy surrounding him, and launched a mighty beam of shadowy electricity from each mouth, the three beams combining into a single one that struck Swablu, electrocuting her. "Oh no! Swablu!" Aerín shouted, rushing to grab Swablu. "Swablu, can you keep going?" she asked in concern. Swablu looked up and nodded, then jumped up to continue fighting. "Go, Torchic!" Aerín shouted, tossing the Chick Pokémon's Pokéball out. Torchic burst out and quickly caused bright rings of fire to blaze around herself, then rushed through them to create an orb of fire before rushing into Hydreigon, trailing bright flames.

"Useless!" the Cipher Peon shouted. "A Fire-type move won't do anything to stop Hydreigon! Take this! Dark Pulse! Dragon Pulse!" In his side heads, Hydreigon began to gather dark energy, while in his main head's mouth, indigo energy began to gather. Then, combining the three blasts, he fired them all at Torchic, knocking the Chick Pokémon into the wall.

"Swablu! Use Natural Gift!" Aerín shouted, running over to Torchic. Swablu flew up, swallowing a Ganlon Berry before flapping her wings and flying at Hydreigon, icy winds blowing around her, and froze the Brutal Pokémon in place. Aerín tossed up an Enigma Berry, which Swablu gulped up and attacked once more, this time launching powdery silver scales at Hydreigon and slicing him many times. "One more time!" Aerín shouted, tossing up a Salac Berry, which Swablu swallowed and created a glowing orange aura around herself out of concentrated energy before slamming into Hydreigon.

"How the heck do you get so many berries?" the Cipher Peon wondered. "Do you have Berry-kinesis or something?"

"Uncle Axel makes a lot of Poffins," Aerín explained. "So I just raided his Berry storage. :D"

"…some niece you are," the Cipher Peon muttered, thoroughly disgusted of the idea of a girl stealing from her uncle. "However, you won't be able to defeat Hydreigon this way! Hydreigon, use Shadow Meteor!" Shadowy meteors appeared in the mouths of all three of Hydreigon's heads, and the Brutal Pokémon sent them spiraling at Swablu, striking her from three different angles. "And because of Hydreigon's Sheer Force ability," the Cipher Peon continued, "all secondary effects of Hydreigon's moves are negated, and their power has been raised by 30%! Meaning Hydreigon won't lose power!"

"Whoa…that's an unfair ability!" Aerín commented.

"However, this means Hydreigon won't gain any power from Shadow Charge, either," the Cipher Peon grumbled. "But, it's worth it if it means we can defeat you! Another Shadow Meteor, Hydreigon!" Hydreigon began to charge up for another meteor strike, but then Torchic rushed up and blasted an Ember into all three, causing them to explode while still inside Hydreigon's mouths. Hydreigon roared in pain and recoiled, but then recovered and, in annoyance, attacked Torchic again and again, using Crunch, Thunder Fang, and Poison Fang all at once to give Torchic critical damage.

"Swablu, use Aerial Ace!" Aerín shouted. Swablu began to spiral around Hydreigon, but then Hydreigon suddenly grabbed her with one head and used Thunder Fang, electrocuting the Cotton Bird Pokémon. "Oh no! Swablu! Torchic!" Aerín cried in concern.

"Oh, so you want your Pokémon back? HERE!" the Cipher Peon shouted, and Hydreigon tossed them back at Aerín and causing them to smash into her. "Now, Hydreigon, use Shadow Meteor!" Hydreigon blasted them with a full force Shadow Meteor, causing shadows to fly all across the room. "It's over! I win!" the Cipher Peon shouted.

**WARNING: Extremely Cliché moment**

Suddenly, a glowing light filled the room. "Wait, what?" the Cipher Peon shouted. "What the heck's going on?"

And then, the shadows cleared to reveal Aerín…sitting on top of an Altaria and with a Combusken standing in front! "It's not over yet!" Aerín shouted.

"How did _that_ happen?" the Cipher Peon shouted. "How did your Pokémon suddenly evolve?"

"Well, they were almost at that level anyway," Aerín replied. "I guess defeating that guy's Drapion did it, although I have no idea why they didn't evolve right away."

"What good is evolution, though?" the Cipher Peon shouted. "Even if your Pokémon evolve, you'll never defeat Hydreigon!" Hydreigon roared and began to gather shadows in his mouth...

"We'll see about that!" Aerín shouted. "Altaria! Solarbeam!" Altaria charged up light, then flapped her wings, opened her beak, and blasted a beam of sunlight that smashed into the shadowy meteors and blew them up in Hydreigon's mouth, causing the Brutal Pokémon to stagger. "And Combusken, use Double Kick!" Aerín shouted. Combusken dashed forward and dealt two quick kicks to Hydreigon's two side heads, knocking them away. Then Combusken raised her foot and stomped hard on Hydreigon's (center) face, smashing the Brutal Pokémon into the ground.

"Urgh…" The Cipher Peon growled. "We'll be back! Everyone, retreat!" (He forgot to recall Hydreigon :D)

Aerín watched them leave, then pushed the Brutal Pokémon towards the crystal. "Hopefully it'll be purified…" she muttered as a beam of light launched from the crystal towards Hydreigon, but suddenly black shadows crackled around the Demon and repelled the light. There was a blinding flash and a smashing impact that launched Aerín backwards into a pillar. Altaria and Combusken immediately rushed to her side in concern. "Geez…" Aerín got up and walked towards Hydreigon to try again. "Is there any way to purify Demon Pokémon?

* * *

_Meanwhile (WHY THE F*bleep* DO I SAY MEANWHILE SO MUCH?), at Oreburgh…_

"God, why the heck did it take us so long to get here?" Toshiro muttered as they FINALLY entered Oreburgh.

"Well, there were a lot of Cipher Peons in our way," Izuru replied. "And in addition, Oreburgh has been on alert. Someone tried to assassinate the Gym Leader, and Oreburgh Mine was collapsed by Team Rocket."

"So they're really tight on security now, huh?" Momo asked. "The good thing is that normal humans can't see us…most of the time."

"Wait, then how did you guys get seen in the Shadow Pokémon Lab by the Cipher Peons?" Hyoshiro asked.

"By that logic, you wouldn't be seen either," Toshiro noted. "What, did you get lucky and not get noticed at all?"

"Haku and I somehow _never ran into any Cipher Peons_," Hyoshiro replied. "We _did_ get shocked by some trap they set up, though. Ugh, that was unpleasant…"

"One of the most powerful beings in existence falls to something like _that_?" Toshiro asked skeptically.

"Look, we just got careless, okay?" Hyoshiro growled. "That being said, where do we go now?"

"I think the most logical place to go would be the mine; it IS underground," Izuru suggested. "The only problem is getting into the mine; it's still collapsed."

"Well, we can easily destroy the rocks with _Kido_," suggested Momo.

"No, that'd be noticed easily by the Humans," Toshiro replied, shaking his head. "I guess we'll have to go in at night or something…"

"They work all night, though," Hyoshiro noted. "We really need to come up with a new plan. Maybe if we dug our own tunnel from elsewhere into the mine…"

"So we spent all this time getting here and now we have to leave?" Izuru shouted. "Well, maybe we should just go to the mine and see how it is now, so then if it's almost fully cleared out, we can go in..."

"Yeah, that might be the best choice," Toshiro replied. "Come on, let's get moving."

* * *

_Back at Snowpoint (YES! I FINALLY DIDN'T USE MEANWHILE! :D)…_

"Hm?" Luna looked at Sam, confused. "He seems to be more confident all of a sudden…"

Sure enough, Sam had a new fire in his eyes, ready to keep fighting the Admin. "Yeah, I'm more confident…because I just got the power to defeat you!"

"What? How'd you get it just by standing there?" Ben shouted. "You can't speed up time so you get it in a millisecond!"

"I've _had_ it," Sam replied. "It's just that Dialga needed to freeze time so that we could train and _evoke_ that power! And I'll use it now to protect this Sanctuary, Luna!" As he spoke, icy blue energy began to gather around Sam. "I'll show you," Sam shouted. "This is my ultimate power! The Champion Ice Elemental!" He whipped up his Pokédex, as a pale blue outline of a humanoid wolf appeared, howling at the moon, raising twin swords above his head. "Come forth, my friend!"

Luna watched the transformation continue. But she smiled coldly as she watched. _Unfortunately for you, Sam, I already know what can stop you,_ she thought to herself. "What drives you to evolve so much?" she asked. "The form you're trying to use just goes to show how foolish you are. You're not doing this for the world; you're doing it for your own gain!"

"Wait, what?" Ben shouted. "What's she talking about?" Sam's eyes narrowed at this remark, but he tried to keep his focus.

"And what have you accomplished in your quest to make yourself more powerful?" Luna continued, defiantly standing against the storm of icy energy. "Have you forgotten when you, Axel Nightblazer, and your friend Ben standing over there tried to stop Team Galactic a year ago, and your own pride nearly caused your own demise?"

Sam's eyes widened. He could remember clearly: Cyrus and Saturn had set the base to self destruct, but Sam just went after numerous Galactic Grunts still in the building just to show them his power. Axel and Ben had tried to stop him, but it was to no avail. The only thing that got them out alive was Ben's Alakazam using Teleport…"No…no, no, no!" he shouted, fighting against the memories.

"Don't let her provoke you!" Ben shouted, attempting to charge at Luna. But then, suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks. "WHAT?" Ben shouted, looking down. His feet were frozen to the ground, and ice was rapidly advancing up his body. "Whoa, Sam, cut it out! Stop!"

"What's happening?" Cynthia cried in horror, ice already coating everything waist down. She looked up at her Pokémon, and they were all freezing, too. "How is this possible?" Cynthia wondered. "Could it be…"

"Just take a look!" Luna shouted, using her power to completely devoid the air around her of moisture so she couldn't be frozen. "Because you feel shame from your own weakness, your power is going out of control! The force which propelled you to evolve is only strangling your neck even further!"

Sam couldn't take it anymore. How much Luna's words stung from the truth, and how everything suddenly seemed stupid because it was all for his own sake. "CHAMPION ICE ELEMENTAL RESURRECTION!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. The icy blue energy flared up violently around him…and then disappeared. Sam stood there, still a human, completely in shock.

"The Champion Elemental Resurrection…failed," Cynthia whispered, realizing how hopeless their situation had suddenly become.

_Why?_ Sam thought frantically. _Why did the Resurrection fail? I trained, I obtained the Champion form, and now…how did this happen?_

"When the mind is clouded with doubts, fear, and anger, the transformation fails," Luna declared, almost as if she could read Sam's thoughts.

Sam said nothing for a long moment, just staring at his Pokédex, whose screen had gone black. "So…what you're saying is…" he began, shaking from the shock.

"If your emotions aren't in sync with your power, you'll never have the ability to Resurrect the Champion," Luna replied. "This is the end for all of you."

There was a massive crash, and all three of our heroes looked back into the main chamber. Luna's five Shadow Pokémon advanced into the chamber, restraining the badly beaten Regigigas and the three golems. "No! Regigigas!" Ben shouted, attempting to run at them…but the ice prevented him from doing anything. It had coated his entire body, all the way up to his neck!

"How unfortunate," Luna commented. "It seems that you failed to perform a miracle." She raised a massive cannon which she placed in an alcove earlier-a Dark Cannon (remember Chapter 10?) and pointed it at Regigigas. "The Colossal Pokémon, Regigigas…your strength is now Cipher's," she declared, beginning to charge up the gun.

**BLAAAAAAAAAM!**

A massive blast of shadow burst from the Dark Cannon, crashing into Regigigas and knocking him onto his back. Luna charged up more shots which she fired at the three Golems, slamming them onto the ground as well. "With this Dark Cannon, I can make any Pokémon Shadow if I want to," Luna explained, turning back to them. As if on cue, Regigigas and the three Golems rose, their eyes dark purple. All three roared and began to advance towards the three.

"No!" Cynthia struggled to break the ice, but it was to no avail. "We're stuck here," she sighed to Ben. "Sam, can you do anything?"

Sam growled and held up his ten Pokéballs. "I'll take on ALL of you!" he shouted. "Go, Magmortar, Articuno, Electivire, Golduck, Garchomp, Lucario, Skarmory, Empoleon, Roserade, and Staraptor!" All ten Pokémon charged out, ready to battle. "And come forth, DIALGA!" Sam shouted, thrusting his hand out.

But nothing happened for a long moment.

"Your disconcerted heart seems to be working against you," Luna noted. "Because now, given the state of your emotions, Dialga no longer recognizes you as an equal. You're completely out of options."

"Options, my foot!" Sam shouted, clenching a fist. "You're going down, Luna! I'll see to that!" And he and his Pokémon prepared for their final stand…

* * *

**I lied. D: This actually didn't have much to do with Eddie; it had WAY more to do with Aerín and Sam. And Axel and Aeron didn't even appear! In addition, Toshiro and co. didn't get to do anything interesting! AND MY IMAGINATION IS COMPLETELY WASTED, SO I CAN'T WRITE A RANDOM BONUS STORY THIS TIME! (goes into shame corner again)**

**Really sorry about how slowly I'm writing. But remember, I HAVE A LIFE OUTSIDE OF WRITING THIS FANFIC. PLEASE BEAR WITH ME AND ALLOW ME TO WRITE AT MY OWN PACE. (glares at people who have asked me to update)**


	31. Sam FINALLY Becomes a Real Hero, I guess

**Okay! **_**Shadows of the Demon**_** has finally become EPIC! We ended on a cliffhanger for Sam, Ben and Cynthia, and it looks like they're gonna die…**

**Originally, when I made **_**Shadows of the Demon**_**, I was only trying to be funny (and by doing that, my works are also very unoriginal with jokes). However, when I made **_**A Tale of Shining Stars**_**, I decided to change my style a bit to make it more epic rather than funny…and now you see that in **_**Shadows of the Demon**_**, finally.**

**And, you know how Sam keeps talking about Real Heroes and stuff? Thanks to putting his life on the line, it looks like I've finally MADE him a Real Hero.**

**Due to a sudden emergency AND Christmas AND my desire to write a short for the Second Anniversary of **_**Shadows of the Demon**_** (yeah, I just had to make another one), I had less than two weeks to make this. Sorry about the less-than-stellar quality. :T**

* * *

Toshiro, now in his _Gigai_, was reading a book in some park that was in Oreburgh, when he heard Izuru returning. "Ah, Kira," he said. "So…how's the mine right now, anyway? Have they cleared it out yet enough for us to access it?"

"They've cleared out the main entrance, but many of the tunnels have been collapsed. Accessing it isn't a very good idea now," Izuru replied. "So, what's our plan?"

"it seems we're just going to have to use the _Senkaimon_ to get into the mine," Toshiro noted. "That being said, we'd have to figure out where the Sanctuary is, anyway."

"Do we _really_ have to use the _Senkaimon?_" Hyoshiro asked. "It just happens to be so that the Origin Captains still aren't on very good terms with Soul Society."

"You guys _still_ don't cooperate very well?" Izuru asked, surprised. "I thought after Cipher's last uprising, both groups banded together. What, they still don't get along?"

"Not really, no," Hyoshiro replied. "Say, where'd Momo go?"

"She went for a walk in the park or something," Toshiro replied. "Alright…I suppose we'll have to find our own way in the mine."

"It just happens to be so that an auxiliary tunnel is cleared out," Izuru piped up. "We can use that to get in, and then from there, we'll just have to clear out the tunnels."

"Anyone got Pokémon that know Rock Smash or Strength?" Hyoshiro asked. "Or will we just have to use spells?"

"I think spells would cause too much destruction," Toshiro reasoned. "So, Hyoshiro, do _you_ have any Pokémon on hand?"

"Yes, I do, but none at the time have Rock Smash or Strength, and I'm lacking the HMs to do it," Hyoshiro replied. "Should we attempt to find the HMs?"

"That would take too much time," Toshiro replied, shaking his head. "And I don't suppose we could go up to every civilian and ask 'Hi, do you have the HM for Rock Smash or Strength?"

Suddenly, there were shouts down the road. "HEEEEY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" They turned to see a civilian being attacked by a Mr. Mime, and a Cipher Peon with a machine on his right arm tossing a Pokéball which snared the civilian's Ampharos with an orange claw of energy.

"We'll be taking your Pokémon from you," a Cipher Peon replied, walking to pick up the Pokéball. Hyoshiro's eyes narrowed as he quickly identified the machine on the Cipher Peon's arm. Clearly, the Cipher Peons had not gotten enough of making Snag Machines. Down the road, several other civilians were lying in the streets heavily injured, showing the extent of the Cipher Peon's wrath.

"Ugh," Hyoshiro growled. "They never learn when enough is enough!" He raised two Pokéballs and pressed the buttons. "Go, Walrein! Abomasnow!" The Ice Break Pokémon and the Frost Tree Pokémon burst out and blasted icy energy at the Cipher Peon, freezing him solid before he could claim his prize.

"Whoa, thanks!" the civilian said gratefully. "But what was he going to do?"

"It's a long story," Hyoshiro replied. "To summarize, he was attempting to steal your Pokémon."

"Oh my god, he wanted to _steal_ my Ampharos?" the civilian shouted. "Thank you so much! You have no idea how much this Ampharos means to me! But how can I thank you?"

"Well," Hyoshiro replied, "if you'd like to thank me, do you have the HM for Rock Smash or Strength? It just happens to be so that I need to teach them to my Pokémon, but I seem to have lost my own HMs."

"Oh yeah! I have them right here!" the civilian replied, handing Hyoshiro two CD-like devices. "Teach them, then!"

"That was extremely lucky," Izuru commented as he went to heal the other civilians, while Hyoshiro began the process of teaching an HM move.

* * *

_Outside of the Sanctuary on Iron Island …_

The two Cipher Peons which Eddie completely mowed down were beginning to regain their consciousness. "Urgh…" one guy growled. "How did that guy get past us?"

Further down the hallway, Axel and Aeron were running toward the Sanctuary as fast as they felt like. "Geez, there were _way_ too many minions out there," Aeron commented. "Seems Cipher's been doing a lot of conscription, huh?"

"That, or many people were just desperate for something to do," Axel replied, shrugging. "Whatever. Hey, it's some more Mooks!"

"Hey!" one of the Cipher Peons shouted, eager to block their way. "This places is off limits! You're not permitted here!"

"And?" Aeron asked. "What's your oh-so-brilliant plan to stop us?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked!" the Cipher Peon replied, holding up a Pokéball. (Please note that for the sake of consistency, no one really knows much about Pokémon from Unova/Isshu in this story.) "It just happens to be so I have a Pokémon which you've never heard of before! Go, Swanna!"

"And it just happens to be so that I have one which you've probably never heard of, either!" the other one declared, holding up his own Pokéball. "Go, Chandelure!"

"…why the heck do they keep emphasizing the fact that they have Pokémon from Unova/Isshu?" Axel wondered, scratching his head.

"I dunno, but I doubt they know we've seen all Pokémon before in that war from one who-knows-how-long ago," Aeron replied.

"What?" both Cipher Peons asked stupidly.

"Nothing," Aeron answered automatically. He began to reach for his _Zanpaku-to_ and whispered to Axel, "Okay, all we have to do now is cut them down and-"

**Rule #1 of Pokémon Games (which Eddie BROKE): You can only get past the Grunts, obtain the Legendary Pokémon, halt all chaos that has resulted of the Bad Guy Team's actions, and utterly ruin the plans of the Bad Guy Team…if you beat the Grunts in a Pokémon Battle.**

"WHAT THE F*bleep*?" Axel hollered, staring at the signboard which explained the rule of Pokémon Games which mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. "WELL THAT IS JUST S*bleep*!"

"Fine, I'll take care of these guys," Aeron muttered, thoroughly annoyed. "Axel, you head for the Sanctuary!"

"Oka-WHAT THE F*bleep*?" Axel hollered again as two Cipher Peons dropped down from the ceiling, said lines about how they were in a restricted area, declared they had Pokémon Axel had never seen before, and called out a Beartic and a Gigalith. "Grrr…go, Lucario! Bone Rush!" Axel grumbled.

Lucario let out a roar as he emerged from his Pokéball, and was immediately greeted with a Stone Edge from Gigalith. He began to perform what looked like a Tai Chi move, then suddenly split in two, blurred and disappeared before reappearing and blasting Gigalith with a surge of aura (direct contact). Then the Aura Pokémon raised his hands and-

*insert lightsaber sound effects here*

-created a bone made of aura in his hands, much longer than an average bone created from Bone Rush would be (about a foot taller than LUCARIO was :O) then vaulted at Gigalith and slashed him multiple times with the bone. Beartic roared and spat an Icy Wind at Lucario, but Lucario jabbed the bone into the ground and vaulted off it, appearing above Beartic and slamming his palm into Beartic's abdomen with so much force that Beartic was left paralyzed from the impact.

"Urgh, we must not lose this battle!" one of the Cipher Peons growled. "Gigalith, attack again! Earth Power!" Gigalith roared and sent a rippling wave of earth at the Aura Pokémon.

Lucario effortlessly jumped over the wave, then raised his hands to prepare an attack. "These people aren't worth Aura Sphere," Axel decided. "Lucario, use Flash Cannon!" Lucario produced two shining spheres of metallic energy and tossed them at Gigalith and Beartic, defeating them. "Too late; you lost this battle," Axel called to the Cipher Peons, and they almost instantly ran away screaming. Axel recalled Lucario and muttered, "Now, I'd better help Aer-never mind, he doesn't need any help."

A white shining dragon floated before Aeron, staring the Luring Pokémon and the White Bird Pokémon down. He had a majestic appearance and four great webbed wings. His head was shaped like an arrow and he bore muscular white arms. Two kneepads covered his knees, each one bearing a gem. A long, ivory whip-like tail swung back and forth, and several pale blue striped sections were on his arms, torso, and legs. Basically, if you think Shooting Star Dragon with webbed wings, you're on the right track. "What the heck is that?" one of Aeron's opponents asked.

"This is Miragon, a Pokémon which _no one's_ ever heard of before," Aeron replied. "Go, Miragon! Attack with Hurricane!" Miragon rose into the air and gathered whispy white clouds flowing across his tail, and he spiraled through the air, unleashing powerful gusts of wind from its body.

"Uh…crap! Swanna, use Brave Bird!" one Cipher Peon shouted. Swanna dove through the winds, a purple aura surrounding her, but she couldn't stand up to them and went flying into the wall.

"Chandelure, Flame Burst!" the other Cipher Peon shouted. Chandelure's candles erupted with flame, enveloping both Swanna and Miragon, singeing the two. "Now, follow it up with Flamethrower!" the Cipher Peon ordered, and the Luring Pokémon whirled its appendages and launched great streams of fire at the dragon. But Miragon emerged, barely affected. "What? How didn't it have any effect?" the Cipher Peon wondered.

"I'm afraid," Aeron replied, smiling confidently, "that Miragon is Dragon-type, and fire will do nothing to it."

"No! This Cannot Be!" the Cipher Peon shouted in frustration. "Curse you, Solo! We're out of here!" And the two Cipher Peons ran into the darkness.

"Okay, we'd better head for the Sanctuary and see if Hanna needs help now," Aeron declared. The two took ONE step…and almost instantly two Cipher Peons dropped down from the ceiling, declared they wanted to battle Axel and Aeron and raised their Pokéballs.

Axel and Aeron stared. "FFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

* * *

_In the aforementioned Sanctuary …_

"This is taking too long," Eddie growled as he jumped off another pillar to avoid Rocky's attack. "Where's the cavalry when you need it?"

"Aeron and Axel are fighting the guards right now," Hanna explained, launching a blast of sound to destroy a stone Rocky hurled at her. "There are a lot of them, but they should be coming in a few minutes."

"They'd _better_," Eddie muttered, leaping onto the wall and running across it as stones pierced into the rock face. "For now, this is getting really annoying to deal with!"

Rocky sent a wave of earth spikes at Hanna, who used Bringer Light to dart out of the way. Already, Rocky knew he was fighting a losing battle; Eddie was far too agile for him to strike and never seemed to tire, while Hanna's abilities were able to counter every move he made. But even so, Rocky was determined to fight to the bitter end. "Get a load of this!" Rocky shouted, bringing the crystals that originally studded the walls around his arms similar to armor. Then he charged at Eddie to punch him.

Hanna unleashed a blast of sound to knock Rocky off course and into the wall, then raised her (light)sabers and slashed downwards with them, bringing their blazing blue blades slashing through the wall and ripping two great gashes in an X-shaped pattern, although Rocky was able to jump out of the way in time. _There's not much heart in his attacks...it's clear he's despairing, _Hanna thought. _Then why doesn't he just surrender or retreat?_

Much to the two Origin Captains' shock, Rocky jumped down to the machine and slammed the button, causing purple beams to shoot from a rod on the machine at the central crystal, enveloping it with Shadow energy. Hanna and Eddie quickly caught wind of what was going on, but Rocky raised multiple walls of rock in front of the machine, and then several more in front of Eddie and Hanna, from the floor all the way to the ceiling. "This should stall them for a bit," Rocky muttered to himself, turning away.

Suddenly, the rock walls were slashed open. Hanna charged out of the destroyed rock prison and slashed the machine to pieces. Eddie blasted a METEOR and destroyed the rock walls. At this point, Rocky (rather anticlimatically) decided he had had enough and ran out of the chamber. "Well, now that _he's_ taken care of, we can just wipe the rest of Cipher's forces off the face of Iron Isl-HEY! WHAT'RE YOU DOING?" Eddie shouted, jumping at the entrance and kicking the person who was just about to enter in the face. Or rather people.

Hanna stared, mouth agape. "Eddie…you know who you just kicked in the face, right?"

Eddie's face paled. "They're going to _kill_ me when they get up," he groaned.

Axel and Aeron lay on the ground, completely unconscious and their faces bearing Eddie's footprints.

* * *

_In Snowpoint Temple…_

Earth-shattering blows were thrown left and right in the ruins. Regigigas, the source of all the chaos, was trying again and again to strike his target, but his opponent, Lucario, was too quick to allow that. That being said, however, Lucario was having problems of his own; none of his attacks could harm the Colossal Pokémon greatly. Several Aura Spheres flew from the Aura Pokémon's hands and exploded against Regigigas' massive form, and an immediate response returned in the form of two Hyper Beams, which the Aura Pokémon acrobatically flipped over.

Suddenly, many icicles crashed into Regigigas' body. The Colossal Pokémon whirled around to find Articuno flying at him, sending icy gusts which threatened to freeze him. Regigigas braved each attack, breaking out of any ice that formed easily, then grabbed Articuno with Crush Grip and smashed him into the ground as hard as he could. Articuno flew back up and blasted a beam of light which quickly froze over, but Regigigas dodged. Lucario jumped up at that moment and dealt a fury of punches, abandoning any attempt at defense.

This may have been the Aura Pokémon's downfall, however; Regigigas grabbed him at that moment and smashed him into the wall with Crush Grip, then crushed him into the wall with Mega Punch. Lucario groaned from the impact, but was still able to recover and stand up to fight again. A bone of aura formed in his hands, and Lucario brandished it like a sword before rushing at Regigigas again.

"Come on, Lucario, Articuno, keep it up!" Sam shouted. "And Magmortar, use Fire Blast!" The Blast Pokémon lauched jets of flame which exploded into a five-pointed cross of fire, but Registeel was able to withstand it and attacked Magmortar with a whirl of stones enchanted by an ancient power which enhanced Registeel's body greatly (actually, that was the _move_ Ancient Power).

Electivire roared and unleashed crackling electricity in all directions, shocking his three opponents: (Luna's) Empoleon, Milotic and Sharpedo. The force of this Discharge was so great, they were left paralyzed from the shock. Even so, Milotic managed to gather water and fire it out in a pulse, although Electivire swiftly dodged it and attacked with double handknifes, slashing both of them with Cross Chop. (Luna's) Empoleon roared and unleashed a wave of water, but Electivire punched it with a fist of icy energy, freezing the wave solid.

(Sam's) Empoleon unleashed a torrent of water at Regice, which the Iceberg Pokémon froze solid with a freezing shadowy wind. Regice then charged at the Emperor Pokémon and slammed against him with a mighty force which caused (Sam's) Empoleon to stumble back, but he quickly recovered and drove his beak into the Iceberg Pokémon's side, then spun around quickly, drilling into Regice and critically wounding him.

Skarmory plummeted like a falling star at Ludicolo, spinning around in midair, but Ludicolo gathered Shadow Energy and punched him away. Then lots of shadow energy gathered at Ludicolo's…uh…pineapple? Anyway, Ludicolo roared and then blasted a mighty beam of gathered shadow at Skarmory, only for Skarmory to quickly barrel roll to the side and then gather a metallic light at his beak, then blast it out and smash Ludicolo with shining energy.

Dodging in between Poliwrath's punches, Staraptor slashed at him with his wings once, twice, three times, then suddenly disappeared, only to reappear right behind Poliwrath and slash him across the back with a mighty Aerial Ace. Poliwrath roared and launched another punch head-on, but Staraptor flew above it and grazed Poliwrath with his claws. Roserade raised her arms and fired leaves from the roses at a rapid pace, slashing Poliwrath again and again. Poliwrath responded by gathering shadows at his fist and punching Roserade in the face, sending the Bouquet Pokémon flying several meters across the room.

Golduck and Garchomp charged at Regirock, who blasted them with Stone Edge and knocked them off course. Garchomp got up quickly and rushed at Regirock again, striking him with everything he had. The two Pokémon both continued to attack Regirock relentlessly, Golduck blasting jets of water left and right, and Garchomp unleashing earthquakes on Regirock as if there was no tomorrow. Of course, both Pokémon knew that if they couldn't defeat the Golems, there really _would_ be no tomorrow for them.

"Is there even a way for us to win?" Sam wondered hopelessly, watching the Pokémon battle again and again. "I'd better at least do a normal Resurrection…" He raised his Pokédex Ultra and began to thumb the button.

Almost immediately, a whip of water knocked the Pokédex Ultra out of his hand. "I'm afraid that I can't allow you to Resurrect," Luna declared. "I can't take chances with even a normal Elemental now; I'll be completely secure with my superiority over this situation."

"You gotta be kidding me!" Sam shouted as the Pokédex Ultra clattered to the floor. He made a dash to get it, but Luna quickly snatched it and jumped behind Regigigas, out of reach. "Crap!" Sam growled. "That was the one hope we had left!"

"And with that, you truly have _no _hope left," Luna replied, holding out the Pokédex Ultra and raising her sword, causing water to flow across the blade.

It didn't take long for Ben to figure out what was going on. "No! STOP!" he shouted. Suddenly, one of his frozen Pokéballs began to spark, and then exploded from system overload, but not before sending a pulse of red energy to reveal Ben's Jolteon. Before anyone had time to wonder how Jolteon escaped, the Lightning Pokémon took a flying leap and swiped the Pokédex Ultra out of Luna's hand and shocked her with a Discharge, along with Regigigas. This gave Lucario the chance he needed to charge and shoot Regigigas with dozens of Aura Spheres.

"How did it break out?" Luna wondered. "There's no way it could've opened on its own…"

"The Pokéball is designed so the Pokémon inside is aware of what's happening outside of it," Ben explained. "And when the Pokéball is about to be destroyed, a special system ejects it out, no matter what. It doesn't even need the Pokéball to open in order to activate. Jolteon overloaded the Pokéball to the point where it would break and manually release him."

"That's an AWESOME function," Sam commented. "Jolteon! Bring it to me! That way, I can Resurrect and defeat our foes!"

Jolteon leaped at Sam, but then Luna launched a wave of water with so much pressure it smashed a giant fissure into the ground from the force. "I'd advise your Pokémon not to even _try_ to cross that," Luna calmly told Ben.

"Why don't you tell Regigigas about that?" Ben asked. Luna narrowed her eyes at this, but then they widened when Regigigas stumbled backwards from Lucario and Articuno's combined attack directly into the fissure!

"Now, Jolteon!" Ben shouted. "Use Double Kick!" Jolteon leaped up and kicked Regigigas further into the fissure before he could do anything else, and the Colossal Pokémon ended up wedged between the sides, his arms and legs wriggling helplessly. "Sorry about that; we'll get you out later," Ben called to Regigigas.

"Putting off the inevitable?" Luna asked, blasting Regigigas out of the fissure with a stream of pressurized water. "You're just making desperate move after desperate move. Do you really think you can defeat me that easily?"

"Yes," Ben replied automatically. Luna facepalmed herself in disgust. "Hey, the good guys win about 95% of the time!" Ben protested. "And another 4%, they lose and _live_!"

"And the final 1%?" Luna asked, unleashing another wave on Jolteon, who bounded away quickly before she could strike him.

"…those are heroic sacrifices," Ben finally replied. "But then right after, the good guys win again!"

"And how do you know you won't end up being one of the heroic sacrifices…which was futile?" Luna asked, picking up the Dark Cannon and aiming at _Ben_. "I think _you'll_ be one."

"Oh CRAP!" Ben and Sam shouted at the same time. Jolteon roared and pounced on the Dark Cannon, then began to fire Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt from his crackling body at the Dark Cannon.

"Wh-what are you doing, you fool?" Luna shouted, trying to refocus on Ben, except Jolteon was blocking her view. "Get off!" Jolteon reared up in response, his fangs sparking, and bit down hard on the Dark Cannon, finally overloading it and causing it to explode violently. Luna let out a cry of surprise as the gun exploded in her hands and sent her flying across the chamber into the wall. Jolteon backflipped away before he could be hit with the worst of the explosion and landed on all fours, ready to fight some more.

At this moment, Roserade came crashing to the ground next to Jolteon, followed by Poliwrath who came bearing down on the Bouquet Pokémon with a punch of darkness. Jolteon unleashed a Thunderbolt on Poliwrath, shocking him before he could complete his attack, giving Roserade enough time to evade and unleash red and blue Energy Balls on Poliwrath, smashing him further and further backward.

Jolteon then unleashed a Thunder into the air, and aimed it at Luna's Empoleon, but she dodged and pushed Electivire in the way. Which was a bad idea, because Electivires have Motor Drive, which allow them to abruptly become extremely fast and powerful. In a matter of moments, Electivire Cross Chopped Empoleon, unleashed Thunder on Sharpedo, and Thunder Punched Milotic in the face. Jolteon shocked Electivire some more to take advantage of this ability.

With the extra charge, Electivire jumped at Registeel and unleashed several thousand volts into his body, which _all flew at Registeel because Registeel's body was like a lightning rod._ (No, Registeel doesn't have Lightning Rod as his ability, but…you know, steel conducts electricity.) Jolteon jumped at Registeel and bit into him with Thunder Fang, knocking out the Iron Pokémon. Jolteon then leaped over the fissure that Luna created and skidded across the icy floor, blasting Pin Missile from the spikes around his neck to shatter the ice containing Ben and Cynthia. "Yes!" Ben shouted, raising all three swords. "Now we're back in this thing!"

Suddenly, a torrent of water whipped up and wiped out Electivire, Jolteon, and Magmortar. "That's it!" Luna declared furiously, raising her sword and pointing it straight at Sam. Unbeknownst to her, in his last moments of consciousness, Jolteon tossed the Pokédex Ultra into the air. "You and your Pokémon have toyed with me long enough, Sam! I'll end it here and now!" She dashed towards Sam, raising her sword and allowing water to condense on it…

Sam smiled confidently. "Afraid not, Luna. You've finally given me the power I _do_ need to evolve." Luna's eyes widened at this point, especially when she saw Sam raise his hand and catch his Pokédex Ultra from the air. "The power to protect people who are close to you! _That's_ the power which will make me evolve!" Sam declared, thumbing the button. An icy aura filled the air once more, but it felt much more controlled.

"What's Sam going to do now?" Cynthia asked, uncertain Sam could actually perform the Champion Resurrection.

"You know," Ben commented, staring at his friend, "I think Sam finally might have become a Real Hero."

An image of a powerful being flared into life, howling at the moon. However, its head was that of a wolf, while it stood on two legs and had a humanoid body structure, sword raised to penetrate any who dared challenge it. It's form wavered and dissolved into the kanji for ice, which was blazed straight onto Sam's Pokedex Ultra. Sam pulled it back, and then whirled his other hand up, which now had a sphere of barely controlled pale blue energy blazing in it, threatening to spiral out of control, only able to be tamed by a true master. Sam extended both hands outwards, and then swung them around, slamming the two together in an epic way.

"Come forth, my friend!" he shouted. "Champion Ice Elemental Resurrection!" He pulled the two apart, enveloping himself in an intense blizzard, with a faint pink and green aurora blazing through the ice.

The blizzard blasted across Sam's skin, drifting away in the wind to reveal pale silver fur, and icy blue streaks ran across his legs perpendicular to them, as well as across his back and face. Then the aurora glinted majestically and the ice clumped together to create two crossed elaborate sabers with guards shaped like elegant snowflakes and pale blue _tsuba_. The aurora flashed brightly, and the snow subsided to reveal a silvery-white headcrest bearing resemblance to part of a snowflake placed on top of his head, and irises glowing a pale blue against his white sclera and fur.

The wolf let out a savage cry and leapt down to land on a platform with the kanji for _ice_ emblazoned on it. He howled, raising his two swords of ice, and then began to slash the air with them, chilling it even further, and then leapt up before bringing the swords down to the ground, freezing the world around him. "_Sub Zero Fighter_ Arcticryo!"

"So that's Articryo's evolution…" Cynthia breathed as Articryo descended, radiating an icy aura of EPICNESS.

Deciding she _didn't_ want things to turn out like this, Luna raised her hand and called forth a crackling mass of yellow electricity. "_Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower…red crystal…steel ring. Move and become the wind…stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! __Hado no rokujuusan:__ Raikoho (Way of Destruction #63: Thunder Roar Sear)_!" Several spheres of lightning flew from her hand at Articryo. "Even if you evolve, that won't stop me from being able to defeat you with _Kido_!" Luna declared.

Articryo raised (one of) his magnificent sword(s), which had an elaborate snowflake-shaped guard and a pale blue _tsuba_. "_Kido_, you say?" Articryo asked. "That can't compare to my new power." And he brought it down, freezing each of the spheres of lightning created from _Raikoho_!

At that moment Articryo's _reiatsu_ suddenly pulsed out, and the white Aetherium Crystal in the center of the temple began to glow, resonating with his _reiatsu_. Then it burst into a bright blue light, and several energy bolts flew from the crystal to strike each of the Shadow Pokémon, restoring them to normal. "What? Impossible!" Luna shouted. "How did the crystal suddenly activate?"

"A Sanctuary's crystal will activate when the Elemental who it belongs to is nearby, and their _reiatsu_ has the right frequency to resonate with that of the crystal," Articryo explained. "Of course, the right frequency requires a lot of training and dedication. Which I'm actually sure I'm lacking in."

"Wait, how did you know that?" Ben asked.

"I just know," Articryo replied. "I guess my Elemental shares memories with me."

"Impossible!" Luna exclaimed. "How can this be? You just displayed you _couldn't_ use such power! So how were you able to?"

"Because I'm awesome, and you're not," Articryo replied, smirking. Then he grew serious and added, "And because you don't respect your Pokemon like we do. Turning them into soulless fighting machines is something only someone not worthy of being called a Trainer would do! And that, Luna, is why you'll never defeat me!"

* * *

**Random Bonus Story…XD**

With many bags in his arms, Axel hurried across the snowy road to his house and opened the door. "Hey guys, for my Christmas party this year, I got some…wait, what the heck?"

The house was completely empty. Even _Pikachu_ wasn't there. Axel's bags immediately dropped to the floor. "Uh…guys?" Axel asked, walking around. "Where the heck are you?"

_In a secret base of Aeron's under a lake in HOENN…_

"W00T!" Ben shouted, breakdancing to the beat of music.

"Alright!" Pikachu shouted, doing random dance moves which are completely beyond my ability to describe.

"Awesome party, huh guys?" Sam asked, doing…whatever DJs do. As he placed a new record on the machine, he thought to himself with a smirk: _Especially because I didn't invite Axel since he nearly got me killed during the last few chapters :3_

"Well, crap. What do we do now?" Rinna asked, lounging on a couch.

**TECHNO**

**DANCE**

**PARTY**

You know what they did, so I won't even bother. (The record Sam put in just now was Caramelldansen XD)

"Seriously though. I don't think there's really anything for us to do," Rinna complained.

"Well, we could always play a Children's Card Game," Aeron replied, holding up some Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.

"ON MOTORCYCLES!" Jack Atlas shouted, popping up randomly.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" Ben grabbed a giant hammer and started smashing Jack in the face. "NO! NO CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES! STICK TO THE ORIGINAL!"

It was at that point that Ben suddenly noticed Rinna and Aeron playing Yu-Gi-Oh!...on Motorcycles. Several powerful monsters spanned the distance between them. "Okay! Shooting Quasar Dragon, get ready to atta-" Aeron began.

"NOOOOO! NO CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES!" Ben shouted, grabbing all three of his swords and swiftly placing _Wado Ichimonji_ between his teeth. "_ONI GIR-"_

"_The Creation Burst!_" Aeron declared, and Shooting Quasar whirled several orbs around his body, each one containing one of the monsters used to Synchro Summon him, before they all whirled at Rinna's monsters.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~" Ben screamed, running away before the spheres could hit him (and completely forgetting that Solid Vision, what is used to materialize the monsters, does not make them actually able to physically harm people).

"…okay, that was weird," Rinna commented, reaching to activate a Counter Trap.

"Hey, Sam, by the way, you remembered to invite Axel, right?" Ben asked, grabbing some cake…and then decided "screw it" and took just about the entire cake. Aeron did a U-turn and smashed him in the head for that.

"…uh, yeah," Sam lied, sweating. "Um…but…he may have gotten lost, I think…"

*insert record scratch here*

Aeron and Rinna found this so utterly stupid, they ended up crashing their Motorcycles in exasperation. "Uhh…what?" Sam asked, watching the Motorcycles go flying. The music continued to play lamely.

"Sam," Rinna reasoned as she leapt to her feet, "There is NO way Axel could've forgotten where it was. This base has been here for _millions of years_, and Axel's been here just as many times."

"Wait, Axel's an old man?" Ben asked, reluctantly helping Aeron fish his Motorcycle out of a big pile of debris.

"NO YOU FOOL! HE DOESN'T GET OLD!" Rinna screamed at the top of her lungs, smashing Ben in the face. "But yeah, that means he's older than any of you."

"O_o I'm not going to ask how that works," Sam commented. "But anyway, I just remembered. Axel told me he had…uh…stuff to do! So he's not going to be here."

"O…k," Hanna replied, not entirely believing Sam.

Aeron said nothing, but secretly, he didn't believe Sam either. "What do you think, Rinna? Is he lying or not?" he whispered as he restarted his Motorcycle.

"I think he's definitely lying," Rinna whispered back. "Okay, Duel Restart!" Their Motorcycles quickly roared back to life.

* * *

_Outside the secret base…_

"I HEAR MUSIC!" Axel shouted, running across the shore and diving into the water. (Yes, Axel's so awesome, he can hear stuff that's coming from underwater. XD)

* * *

_Back inside the secret base…_

"Hey, guys, check out my new camera!" Ray called out, randomly walking in from _A Tale of Shining Stars_, waving and holding up a pistol. He closed his left eye for precision and pulled the trigger. (Yeah, I saw _asdf_ and liked it…about as much as I Like Trains. XD)

"UGH!" Aeron shouted, flying off his Motorcycle (but he's bullet proof since he's epic, so he wasn't hurt :D). The Motorcycle spun out and crashed into the refreshments table.

"NOOOOOO THE FOOD!" Pikachu screamed, running towards what was left of the food.

"OH MY GOD, AERON!" Rinna shouted, but because she didn't look where she was going, she crashed into a bunch of boxes and was catapulted halfway across the room. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~"

"Oh wait, this isn't a camera," Ray muttered, looking at it. Suddenly, he saw Ben and Sam, and realized something. "Uh…what story is this?" Ray asked Ben, fully aware of how out of place he was.

"It's _Shadows of the Demon_," Ben replied, sheathing his swords.

"…I'm not supposed to be here, am I?" Ray asked, lowering the gun.

"No, you're not," Aeron answered, with a creepy smile on his face and a hand on _Tsubasa no Rai-oh._ "Now GET BACK TO _A TALE OF SHINING STARS_ YOU FOOL! _REPPUZAN!_"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!" Ray shouted, running away from the green wave of wind. "OKAY OKAY I'LL LEAVE NOW!"

At this time, Axel walked through a secret airlock into a catwalk above the party. _Now's my chance to crash the party!_ he thought, unsheathing _Shiruba-Getsu_ and leaping down to the floor below.

*insert record scratch here*

"WTF IS GOING ON HERE?" Axel shouted, furiously waving his _Zanpaku-to_ in the air.

"Wait, what?" Aeron stared at Axel, then at Sam, and looked back and forth between the two. "Sam, didn't you say that Axel wasn't coming?"

"…you actually didn't invite Axel, did you?" Ben asked, sweatdropping.

"…no," Sam finally admitted. "B-But it's not what you think. I-I didn't do it just because I didn't want to invite hi-"

*camera suddenly pans to the lakeshore*

* * *

The lake was as peaceful as it usually was on the surface. A Magikarp burst out of the water and sailed back down towards it.

"**IMMA FIRIN MAH LAZOR!"**

**BLAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!**

All of the water burst in every direction, followed by silver light shining in all directions from the lakebed base. The Magikarp went flying onto the shore, as did everything that was in the base. And then the lazor came crashing down back to earth, tearing up the shore into many fragments of charred earth and turning the now empty lake into a vast crater.

* * *

**And they all died. The End.**

…

**(Not really XD)**

* * *

**Oh wait, you want a moral? Okay, here:**

**Moral:**

**Invite Axel to your parties. And if you don't want to, at least just let him know that he's not allowed to come. Then he MIGHT spare you…**_**might**_**…**

* * *

**Yep, even after writing a "Nothing can Save us Now" moment and epic battles, my really random and stupid sense of humor has yet to die down. XD**

**No, Rinna probably doesn't actually play Children's Card Games on Motorcycles. I just couldn't think of anyone else for Aeron to play with.**

**In real life, Ben actually **_**does**_** hate Card Games on Motorcycles, so that's why he's so antagonistic to them. And yes, I should be calling them D-Wheels rather than motorcycles, but…well, you know by now what I love saying.**

**Some user (name omitted so he can keep his dignity) has been saying that this story is apparently a "crack-fic" (aka: a crazy nonsensical fanfic) and told me to completely rewrite the story. While I understand several parts back then were really hard to understand because I was a bad writer at the time, don't even THINK about asking me to rewrite the story; that would take far too much time, considering how far this fanfic has come now. If any rewrites are to be done, expect them to be after **_**Shadows of the Demon **_**is completely finished.**

**Well, I wish you all a very Merry (insert whatever Holiday you celebrate at this time of year here), and a Happy New Year! :D**

**(Thinking) Now I gotta replace all the brain cells I fried this year while writing…T_T**


	32. What's with Ben and Apples?

**And so begins 2012. A year full of hope and promise (if you don't believe in the apocalypse :/). And with it comes a story arc for the Random Bonus Story!**

_Wait, what?_

**You heard me. I'm making a little series of Random Bonus Stories that involve the characters' worst (not to mention silliest) nightmares. We'll start off with Ben, and then OTHER characters will fall victim…heh heh heh…:3**

**But anyway! Last year ended with Sam/Ben/Cynthia vs Luna about to reach its end, and now we'll rap up that fight!**

***insert rap music here***

_Don't you mean WRAP it up?_

_*insert record scratch here*_

**Whoops. Typo. Oh well. Anyway, we'll WRAP up that fight, and go back to doing random other stuff which I neglected! Such as the Shadow Pokémon Factory, Oreburgh, and Sunyshore! (Although I didn't do the last two because then you'd be reading a chapter that's OVER 9000 words long.)**

**Okay, why am I still saying stuff like this? Just…read away!**

* * *

Kenpachi leapt up to another platform. "Quit running away, fool!" he roared, watching Shooter back up some more to blast rockets at the 11th Captain.

"No way!" Shooter replied. "I is better at fighting at a distance, anyway!"

"If it's distance fighting you want," they heard. Both turned, and saw a green light gathering. Ulquiorra was pointing his finger at Shooter, and the green light gathered to his fingertip. "Then fall before my _Cero_ (Zero)," Ulquiorra finished, and shot a beam of green light at Shooter, atomizing anything in its path. Shooter watched it come and shot a rocket into it, disrupting the blast.

"Howl, _Zabimaru_!" Renji shouted, jumping upwards and shearing through the area where Shooter stood. Shooter quickly jumped out of the way and sent a flaming bullet at Renji, knocking him away. "ACK!" Renji shouted, and quickly beat out the flames. "Okay, THAT does it!" He slashed again, and_ Zabimaru_ extended again, but this time, when Shooter attempted to dodge it, it stuck into the wall and attacked again from another angle! (NOTE: _Zabimaru_ has an inconsistent amount of segments. You'll see it with 7 or 8 one moment, and 9001 the next.)

"Wait, what the heck?" Shooter shouted before launching himself out of the way again. _Zabimaru_ crashed into a Chancey, then struck a machine and destroyed it before rebounding yet again, still sticking to the ruins of the machine. Shooter dodged again, but then _Zabimaru _stuck to the ceiling and slammed down yet again. "How many different angles can this thing strike from?" Shooter wondered, shooting at the cords between the segments of _Zabimaru_.

"_Zabimaru_ isn't as short as you think!" Renji declared, and quickly retracted _Zabimaru_ so it wouldn't get broken. "It can create segments at will to lengthen it! And then I can use it to attack you from several different angles!"

Shooter was about to attack Renji, but then suddenly found Rukia standing behind him. Rukia twirled _Sode no Shirayuki_ around her, creating numerous sharp icicles in the air. _"You no Mai: Tsurarada_ (Icicle Fall)!" she shouted, twisting her sword. The icicles dropped quickly through the air, impaling themselves in the ground. Shooter quickly ran out of the way of the icicles to avoid getting skewered. (NOTE: _Tsurarada_ is not one of Rukia's moves. In fact, it's not even one of her dances. It's only a video game move which sounded awesome to me XP)

"Wait, when did you get _that_ move?" Ichigo wondered, slashing away at the vast army of random Pokémon in front of him.

"I developed it during the 17 months in which we never saw each other!" Rukia replied indignantly. "You wouldn't think I'd have the same moves forever, would you?

"…no, I guess not," Ichigo finally admitted, sweatdropping.

Kenpachi charged at Shooter again and slashed, but Shooter quickly jumped out of the way and shot him. "Heh! Nothing too hard to beat!" Shooter decided.

"You'll see how hard I am to beat soon enough!" Kenpachi roared, unleashing a furious slash at Shooter (WITH TWO HANDS! XD). The result was a slash with destroyed pretty much half the wall behind Shooter (even though he dodged it).

Shooter gaped at the massive gash in the wall. "Uh…never mind," he finally said lamely. "But anyway, I can just stay at a distance and take ya down from here!"

"No distance is safe from _Senbonzakura_," he heard above him. Shooter looked up to see Byakuya diving down at the Admin, slashing his sword...which had no blade…

"Wait, WHAT?" Shooter practically screamed. "Your sword doesn't have no blade! How d'ya plan to fight me like this?"

"What do you mean, no blade?" Byakuya asked. A moment later, many slender pink blades glittered through the air for a split second. "I see a thousand of them," Byakuya continued.

Shooter realized what would happen, and whirled flame around his hand before creating a barrier of fire in the path of the blades when he had last seen them. The blades clashed against the barrier, unable to penetrate it. Shooter began to smile, but then that was short lived, as he noticed the light shine through the air behind him. He raised his gun and attempted to shoot all of them down, but they all scattered immediately. "What kinda weapon is _this_?" Shooter wondered frantically.

"_Senbonzakura_ is a _Zanpaku-to_ which creates a thousand blades from my sword," Byakuya explained, raising his sword hilt. "Wherever I swing my hilt, the thousand blades follow. How long do you think you can continue to defend against this _Zanpaku-to_?"

"Of course I can!" Shooter replied, pointing his gun and shooting at Byakuya's hand. However, before the flaming bullets could hit, Byakuya vanished. "What?" Shooter shouted. Several blades quickly slashed through his skin at this point, and Shooter yelped in surprise and pain.

The blades continued to swarm Shooter, slashing and hacking. "Now's our chance!" Ichigo shouted. "_Getsuga Tensho!"_ A red and black wave flew from his blade, but Shooter created a sphere of flame around himself, protecting himself from any further attacks. That being said, the _Getsuga Tensho_ almost ripped through it. Ulquiorra fired another _Cero_, ripping through the barrier. Before Shooter could raise the barrier again, another _Getsuga Tensho_ tore apart the remnants of it and wounded the Admin greatly.

Next, Ulquiorra used _Sonido_ (sound step) to appear near Shooter. With one hand in his pocket, he drew his sword and brought it down on the Admin, cutting through him easily. "Yes! We win!" Paul shouted, standing on a pile of defeated Pokémon.

"No," Ulquiorra replied, frowning. "It shouldn't be this easy to cut through a person, I felt _no_ resistance at all. Maybe…" He slowly turned to his left. "It was a heat haze, wasn't it?"

"WAH!" Shooter shouted, because Ulquiorra had turned RIGHT TOWARDS HIM. "How'd ya know I been over here?"

"You can't hide your _reiatsu_ very well," Ulqiorra replied. "I tire of this fight; it's time we drew the curtain on-" But before Ulquiorra could finish talking, a Mightyena attacked him from behind with flaming fangs. "What?" the (former) Cuarta Espada shouted in surprise, before disappearing with _Sonido_.

"Did'ya forget about them there Shadow Pokémon?" Shooter laughed. "They'd be the real threat you'd have to deal with, Ulquiorra!"

"We'll take care of this!" Ash shouted as he and Paul ran in front. Both thumbed their Pokédex Ultras, and the _kanji_ for "fighter" and "steel" appeared on the screens.

A silvery outline of an ancient Pokemon with a humanoid body flared to life in a background of darkness. Paul pulled back the device from the view, revealing that the Pokemon was blazed on the small screen. He raised his left hand, and a sphere of silver power flared to life, with the kanji for steel shining within. He then whipped both hands to the side, and then back to unite the sphere with the device.

"Come forth, my friend!" he yelled, a strange silvery reiatsu emanating from his body in a wild and untamed torrent. "Steel Elemental Resurrection!" he shouted, whipping the device away. Within Paul's spiritual essence, deep in his inner world, the kneeling form of the Pokemon straightened, black eyeholes filling with the ethereal light and unleashing a similar reiatsu that blasted against everything that was nearby.

Steel fragments raised out of the ground and enveloped Paul in a swirling cloud of blades. The mass of metal whirled away from Paul's body, revealing a powerful armored body, silver with golden trimming. On his chest plate was the greek word alpha, and on his cape had it too. His head looked somewhat like that of Wargreymon from digimon, except smoother and more uniform in color.

"Hyaah!" Paul loosed a battle cry, jumping from his "evolution dimension" and landing upon a silver circle with the kanji for steel. He swung his massive, ornate two-hand sword twice, and then slammed it tip-first into the ground in front of him, stood straight and folded his arms. "Gladias Alpha!"

Meanwhile, on the screen of Ash's Pokédex, an ancient Pokemon appeared. It roared, and one part of it was zoomed in on. Ash pulled back his Pokédex and held out his free hand, which generated a sphere of aura. Ash whipped up his hands around, and then slammed them together.

"Come forth, my friend!" Ash shouted. "Fighting Elemental Resurrection!" A blue whirlwind whipped up around him, drawing in strange, free floating blue particles. Within his inner world, an immensely powerful being rose, ethereal light flowing through him.

A pair of lean but powerfully built arms punched out of the vortex, slashing it apart. Shining blue wings extended from the back of a humanoid body, almost twice as long as the figure was tall. Sleek talons extended from each of the figure's feet, designed to strike with great force under incredible speeds. Glowing blue eyes gazed from a face obscured from the nose down in a silver mask, and small wings jutted backwards from either side of his face. A powerful aura flared about his limbs, a testament to the raw power surging through this figure's veins.

The new Pokemon flew down towards a blue circle with the kanji for "Fighter". He flapped his wings, then slammed his fist down into the ground, creating a pulse of blue energy around himself. Then the Pokémon stood up tall, crossing his arms **(LIKE A BOSS!)**."Guardian Auralda!" he shouted.

Gladias and Auralda charged at the Pokémon in front of Ulquiorra, blasting them away with aura and slashing them with Gladias' sword. Then Auralda soared into the air, blasting the Flying-type Pokémon with aura. "We can handle this!" Gladias shouted. "Get going, Ulquiorra!"

Ulqiorra watched them fight, then turned to Shooter. "Now it's just you and me now, Shooter."

"No, it's only ME!" Shooter shouted, holding up a Master Ball. "Destroy 'em, Ho-Oh!" The Rainbow Pokémon rushed out, letting a screech pierce the air.

"Ho-Oh? You've gotta be kidding!" Auralda shouted. "Wait…" He quickly took some time to sense its aura. "IT'S SHADOW?"

"This here Ho-Oh's gonna be the next in the IS series!" Shooter explained. (Remember Demon Lugia is called **IS**-LGA. IS is supposed to mean Infinite Shadow, by the way.) "You is gonna be its first kill, Ulqiorra! Attack, Ho-Oh! Hell Burning!" Ho-Oh reared back and launched an intense purple flame at the (former) _Espada_, which soon became a dark purple spiraling pillar-like inferno. "Well, that there fight was over quick," Shooter commented.

"Not quite…" he heard. And then the flames cleared away to reveal a barrier of _ICE_. "It's not over yet!" The barrier shattered, revealing Candice with her _Zanpaku-to _released, as well as Ulquiorra, completely unharmed.

"Wh-how?" Shooter exclaimed, astounded by this turn of events.

"_Tsumetai-Kaze Kouhi_ is one of the strongest Ice-type _Zanpaku-to_ in all of history," Candice replied, raising it. "I still can't use its full power, but stopping flames is still something I can do pretty well. Ho-Oh wasn't even using his full power anyway, I think."

"D*bleep* it!" Shooter shouted. "Ho-Oh! Attack the girl! And I gonna take on Ulquiorra!" Ho-Oh soared above Candice and began to try to bombard her with flames, but Candice dodged or deflected each one. "Now, Ulquiorra, I gonna defeat you here and now!"

"What's with this guy's speech?" Auralda wondered. "Does he have a disorder which prevents him from speaking?"

"No, just a D in Public Speaking due to his 'countryman accent' which that person up there who I am forbidden to name fails at writing using," Ulquiorra replied.

**HEY! I FIND THAT VERY INSULTING! AND WHY AM I BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL ANYWAY?**

Completely ignoring the author, Ulquiorra raised his sword and pointed it at Shooter. "Well, shall I Release?"

"Ulquiorra, no!" Ichigo shouted. "If you do that, you'll obliterate this place! And what'll become of the Pokémon which we're trying to save right now?"

Ulquiorra grimaced; he hadn't thought of that. It seemed he'd have a bit more trouble fighting now. "Alright; never mind about Releasing," he sighed. "It seems I'll just have to take you down without my full power."

"And without your full power, you is never gonna-" Shooter began, but suddenly found Ulquiorra's pale skinned hand clasped around his shirt.

"Unless we use another option," Ulquiorra continued. "Let's take this outside." And then Ulquiorra SHOVED Shooter so hard that they went flying through the wall at pretty much supersonic speed, leaving a fissure in the wall marking their previous position.

"…I think he has it in the bag," Ichigo commented.

* * *

_In the Snowpoint Sanctuary…_

At long last, a feel of hope drifted through the chilly air in the chamber. Ben, Cynthia, and Articryo all were standing around Luna, ready to fight the Admin. Luna's five Pokémon, once Shadow but now purified, now looked around, completely confused. Towering above all were the three Legendary Golems and their master, Regigigas, all of whom were not very happy at all.

Now, Articryo hefted his sword and pointed it at Luna. "Any other tricks you have up your sleeve, you'll have to pull them now, Luna."

Luna grimaced. Without the Golems on her side, this was looking rather bleak now. It didn't help that _Raikoho_ hadn't worked on Articryo. _However, I still have some more Kido left,_ she thought. _Let's see how well he does against this!_ Luna spread her arms, and blue flames were called to her middle and index fingers. _"Ye lord! Mask of Blood and Flesh, all Creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the face of Man! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens,"_ Luna chanted.

"Duh?" Ben wondered, not understanding.

"_Had__ō__ no Nanaju-San! (Way of Destruction #73!)" _Luna shouted, placing her hands so her wrists were against each other. _"Soren Sokatsui! (Twin Lotus Blue Fire, Crash Down!)"_ Two blasts of flame burst from her open palms, surging at Articryo.

"OMG ANOTHER _HADO_?" Ben pretty much screamed in frustration. Then a realization struck him, and he gasped. "But it's flame, so it'll defeat Articryo instantly!"

"And is it just me, or do you seem _happy_ about that?" Cynthia asked, giving him a look.

"…" Ben quickly inched away with a guilty look on his face.

Articryo calmly watched it come, then with one swift motion, slashed the entire spell in two, allowing the flames to crash into the wall behind him. "It'll take more than that to defeat me," he declared, then launched numerous tiny bullets of snow.

"Powder Snow?" Luna said, disbelieving. "I fail to see how such a move could help you in your current situatio-" Except then every single snowflake BURST INTO A FREEZING EXPLOSION! O_o "Wait, what is this?" Luna shouted as her body was encased in ice.

"Now!" Articryo shouted, creating a giant snowball around himself and attempting to steamroll Luna. He struck once, then changed direction and struck again, and this repeated 3 times before the snowball finally shattered. "But my assault isn't over!" Articryo shouted, somehow in the air. He leveled his swords and blasted several shards of ice from it at super high speed. Luna quickly freed herself and rolled backward to avoid the attack, but then Articryo landed and rushed at her, icy lightning streaming around his swords. The two's blades met time and again, but Articryo was almost moving at blinding speed now.

Ben sheathed _Sandai Kitetsu_ and _Shusui_. "We can't just sit idly just because you have an Elemental now!" he declared. "Time to do some epic _Ittoryu_ (One Sword Style)! Here we go! _Yakkodori_ (Disaster Harbor Bird)!" Ben swung his sword down and sent a crescent moon-shaped blast of compressed air, slamming Luna backwards. Then Ben pulled _Wado Ichimonji_ back over his left shoulder before spinning around in a circle. _"Sanjuroku Pound Ho_ (Phoenix of the 36 Earthly Desires)_!"_ Ben shouted, sending ANOTHER blast of compressed air spiraling at Luna.

Luna kicked off the wall to avoid _Sanjuroku Pound Ho_. "What's with this guy?" she wondered. "Swordsmanship usually doesn't involve swinging your sword to make air-based attacks…"

"Forget him," Articryo suddenly called out above her. "_I'm_ the one you have to worry about!" He pointed both swords at Luna, and they blasted beams of light upon her which froze over quickly. "Take thise!" the Ice Elemental shouted, bringing his sword down on Luna.

Luna broke the ice again and backflipped backward before launching a blast of water at Articryo, but that was frozen over immediately. "Impossible!" Luna cried before dashing away from a bunch of falling icicles. But it was then that she noticed something: Articryo's sword which he used to slash _Soren Sokatsui_ in half had a little nick in it. Clearly it hadn't destroyed the _Hado_ with so much ease. _There's my chance!_ Luna thought.

The Admin's sword surged through the air faster and faster. Articryo blocked each blow with ease. "What the heck are you doing?" he asked. "Striking harder won't do anything."

"We'll see about that!" Luna shouted, and she swung her sword _directly into the notch_. Water gathered along the blade, cutting into the sword…and cutting it in half. _I did it!_ Luna thought. However, Articryo just sheathed his other sword, perfectly calm. "Hold on, what?" Luna wondered. "What're you doing?"

"I just realized I don't need swords to defeat you right now," Articryo replied, raising his fists. "This should be enough to take you down!"

"Going into a fist fight? That's a rather pathetic tactic," Luna commented.

"We'll see how pathetic it is!" Articryo replied, charging once more. A jet of water spiraled at him, but the Ice Elemental drew back his fist and delivered a freezing punch _which blasted straight through the water, dispersing it_. "It's in this form that I can use Ice Punch!" Articryo shouted, jumping over another water jet. "Not to mention a bunch of Fighting-type moves!"

Before Luna could react, Articryo was directly in front of her. What followed was a flurry of lightning-fast punches and kicks which sent Luna flying a ways back. Before she could get up, Articryo was flying with a Hi-Jump Kick at her, which she had to jump out of the way of. Dare we mention Ben jumping from above, now using three swords again?" _"Oni GIRI!_" Ben shouted, slashing Luna three times. This time, all swords made contact. Luna had rolled away, but she still got several scars.

"ENOUGH WITH RICE BALLS ALREADY!" Articryo shouted, launching a Focus Blast.

"IT'S 'DEMON SLASH' NOT 'RICE BALL' YOU IDIOT!" Ben shouted back, sending _Yakkodori_ at Luna.

"WHATEVER!" Articryo shouted back, charging at Luna while she was busy dodging the two aforementioned attacks. "Time to end this!" Articryo brought back both fists, which began to shine with icy energy. "Sub Zero Cannon!" He launched his freezing beam at Luna.

"Don't fool around!" Luna shouted. "I can easily dodge this mov-"

"Gotcha," Articryo declared as Luna was in mid-dodge. In fact, he was now right next to her! Articryo drew his fists back as they shone with icy energy. "Frozen Fist Fury!" Before Luna could react, the Ice Elemental sent 99 rapid fire, megaton punches that caused icy explosions as soon as they came into contact with anything. They actually sent a freezing shockwave while he punched, causing explosions a few inches away. The result was a mass of jagged ice in front of Articryo. Then the Elemental pulled his fist back, charged it with all his might, and let out one final powerful punch, causing a burst of icy energy which resulted in the ice doubling in size.

"Wow, that was kinda awesome…" Ben commented.

Articryo was enveloped in an icy blue light, and then he reverted back to being Sam. "Jeez, that was a long fight," he muttered.

"…well, are you going to begin saying you're a real hero now?" Cynthia asked, a bit icily (kind of strange I used this word when she was talking to a wielder of ice).

Sam was silent for a moment. As much as he felt proud that he had defeated Luna, the words she had said still had shaken him a lot. "Nah, don't feel like it right now," he decided.

Ben immediately noticed something was wrong; Sam didn't behave this way most of the time. "Hey, Sam…" he said, walking towards his friend. "Did what she said get to your head or something?" Sam's silence prompted Ben to continue. "Seriously, you _won_ and now you're emo?"

"Not emo," Sam replied. "It's just…I'm not really sure what I'm fighting for now. So what should I do?"

"What should you do…?" Ben said, stunned for a moment. Then he got furious. "WHAT SHOULD YOU DO? I'll show you!" Before Sam could react, Ben grabbed him by the collar…and punched him in the stomach.

**BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!**

Cynthia gaped in surprise. Sam just plainly had a "WTF?" look on his face. Clearly, Ben didn't act like this every day. "B-Ben..." Sam gasped, attempting to recover from the blow. "Why did y-"

"I told you I was gonna show you what to do!" Ben shouted, throwing another (Falcon) punch.

**BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!**

Ben clenched his fist so tightly as he spoke that it's a wonder he didn't hurt himself. "Didn't you say all those times that you'd act like a 'Real Hero'? If so, why're you suddenly acting like someone who's been called so despicable he doesn't even deserve to walk this earth? Seriously, WHO CARES what she says? She's just trying to mess with your psyche! If you really want to be a Real Hero, start acting like one, regardless of what people say!"

"Ben..." Sam took a bit to soak up what he had just been told, then smiled. "Darn, I hate it when you're right. Alright. Thanks for the pep talk, Ben."

**OMFG BEN SAID SOMETHING PROFOUND I THOUGHT HE WAS STUPID O_o**

"SHUT UP! I ONLY ACT STUPID!" Ben shouted. "IN REALITY, IF YOU WEREN'T PAYING ME TO ACT LIKE A RETARD, I WOULD SAY MORE STUFF LIKE TH-"

**AWOOOOO-GAH! AWOOOOO-GAH! AWOOOOO-GAH!**

"...I just pulled the Dream Thrasher Alert, didn't I?" Ben asked.

"Yep, you did," Sam replied. "Because you're not a real hero. :D"

"You know, maybe I _should've_ let you be emo for a bit..." Ben muttered.

**IMMA FIRIN MAH LAZOR BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGHHH!**

Ben lay on the ground, completely fried. "Well, he had it coming," Sam muttered. "Okay, Cynthia, where do you think we should go next?"

"Not quite sure, maybe we should help the others," Cynthia replied. "Or maybe...Ben, where does it say that Cipher's largest force is at right now?

"Okay, let's see…" Ben was on his iTouch, randomly clicking on the touchscreen. "If it's the largest one you want, then we should probably go back to Eterna, I guess…" **(Yes, I know he made a fast recovery. LIVE WITH IT!)**

"HEY! Ben! I thought I told you not to play any iTouch games!" Sam shouted, attempting to tear the iTouch away from him.

Ben whipped _Sandai Kitetsu_ between Sam's hand and the iTouch, and Sam had to jerk his hand away…but he still ended up getting a cut. "I hope that hurt," Ben commented, glaring. "But anyway. I'm using an app called Ciphertracker." He showed Sam the screen. Much to Sam's shock, it was showing a map which pretty much said wherever all Cipher Peons were. "They've got an app for that, too. :D"

"*random gibberish*" Sam grumbled to himself, stalking out of the chamber.

* * *

_On Iron Island…_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!" Eddie screamed, quickly using parkour to leap his way across the room. A moment later, a vast lightning bolt crashed through the air.

"GET BACK HERE FOOL!" Aeron shouted, waving his sword at Eddie, a footprint still stamped on his face. He swung _Tsubasa no Rai-oh_ once again, this time sending crashing waves chasing after him.

"…my god, they never grow up, do they?" Hanna asked, sweatdropping. "And why the heck hasn't Axel regained consciousness anyway?"

"Zzzzz…" Axel snored, a similar footprint on his face.

"Oh," Hanna muttered, facepalming herself.

"We probably won't be going anywhere any time soon, huh?" Pikachu asked, sitting on a rock and eating Poffins.

"Nope, most certainly not," Hanna agreed.

"Whatever, I'll just grab Axel's motorcycle (on which he can play Card Games) and let's get out of here!" Pikachu decided. "Come on, Espeon!"

_Wait, what?_ Espeon thought, but before she knew it, Pikachu grabbed her tail. _HEY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING YOUFOOL?_

Completely ignoring the Sun Pokémon's protests, Pikachu ran out of the cave dragging her by the tail and began a long trek through the network of tunnels. "Aw man…why didn't I think of putting up markers or something to track our path?" Pikachu wondered, slowing to a stop at a fork in the path.

_Because you're an idiot, so any smart idea would never come to you,_ Espeon replied, furious about how Pikachu forced her to come along.

"SHUT UP!" Pikachu shouted. "I'll just guess where the way to get out is! Uh…" He quickly ran up another part of the path, hoping he was going the right way.

_Great, now you're going to get us lost and kill us,_ Espeon grumbled. _Now LET GO OF MY TAIL._

"I don't see you doing anything to help us get out!" Pikachu replied, running through another tunnel. "If you're going to be pessimistic, just shut up!"

But then, both Pokémons' ears suddenly perked as he heard someone further down the tunnel: "Aw crap! I got lost! Why didn't I put up markers? Oh well, hope I find _some_ member of my team soon…"

"Yay, someone's here for me to ask for directions!" Pikachu cheered. He rounded the corner and-

*insert record scratch here*

-ran into a Cipher Peon. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA IT'S A CIPHER PEON~" Pikachu screamed, legs randomly swinging in the air at super high speed.

_It was bound to happen,_ Espeon sighed, and got ready to fight.

"Wha-YOU! AXEL NIGHTBLAZER'S PIKACHU!" the Cipher Peon shouted. "Time to Snag you!" He raised a Pokéball, which flared with an orange nimbus, then threw it at Pikachu.

"I don't go down that easy!" Pikachu declared, using Quick Attack to disappear in a flash of light and reappear behind the Cipher Peon. "Time to blow you up!"

"Well, too bad! You won't be blowing anything up!" the Cipher Peon shouted, tossing three Pokéballs. "Try to avoid me after THIS! Go, Poliwrath! Metagross! Gallade!"

The Tadpole, Iron Leg and Blade Pokémon burst from their Pokéballs. As soon as Poliwrath came out, he laughed. "_HA! A mere Pikachu against me? This must be some kind of joke!"_

*insert record scratch here*

"WHAT? 'A MERE PIKACHU?'" Pikachu practically exploded with rage. "I WILL NEVER…_**FORGIVE YOU!**_" Fire, ice, and lightning began to gather around his hand.

"_Wh-wh-what?_" Poliwrath gasped, for the energy Pikachu generated was causing tiny pieces of rock to slowly levitate.

"_This can't be!_" Metagross exclaimed, watching the energy surge up into a roaring falcon.

Behind them, Gallade stood holding a Pokédex to his face. _"H-his power level is…_" Gallade gasped. _"7000…8000…Impossible!"_

_And here we go,_ Espeon sighed, curling up on the ground. There was pretty much no reason for her to fight now.

"Falcon…PUNCH!" Pikachu shouted.

**BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!**

_It's an Epic Win!_

Poliwrath toppled and crashed to the ground, having been burned/shocked/frozen and KO'ed in ONE HIT. Metagross gaped first at his partner, and then at the falcon surging away. _"G-Gallade!"_ he cried, whirling around. "_What does the Pokédex say about his power level?"_

Gallade lowered the Pokédex, eye twitching. _"IT'S OVER 9000!"_ he screamed, crushing the Pokédex in his hand.

"_WHAT? 9000? THERE'S NO WAY THAT CAN BE RIGHT!"_ Metagross screamed in disbelief. _"It must be broken!"_

*insert record scratch here*

"He f*bleep*in' crushed it with his fist, genius," Pikachu said sarcastically. "So OF COURSE it would be broken! Seriously, I thought Metagrosses were smart!"

"…" Metagross stamped his leg on the ground in frustration. Except this caused the ground to collapse underneath him, leaving him trapped in a pile of rock. _"GOD D*bleep* IT!"_ Metagross screamed in even more frustration. Pikachu walked up to him and struck him with a punch wreathed in fire with enough force to break bricks, knocking out the Iron Leg Pokémon…somehow.

"Wait, its power level is over 9000?" the Cipher Peon shouted. "That does it! We're out of here!" He and Gallade hit the road at this point.

Pikachu watched them go. "Stupid people," he muttered to himself. "Now, how do I get out of here?"

_I'm pretty sure we should go back one tunnel, _Espeon thought. _Because I remember Aeron coming from a different path._

"Fine," Pikachu grumbled, and followed Espeon through the tunnels with a really grouchy expression.

Then light began to shine from up ahead. "Wait, what's that light?" Pikachu asked, rounding the corner. Before the Mouse and Sun Pokémon knew it, they were walking out of the cave mouth! "Yes! We found the exit!" Pikachu shouted jubilantly. "And it's all thanks to ME!"

Espeon gave him a long, hard glare for several seconds, shutting the Mouse Pokémon up.

* * *

_On the west part of Route 211, exiting Mt. Coronet…_

"Geez, we spent so long getting here!" Ben commented, stretching his arms out as they exited the caves below Mt. Coronet. "Hey, did anyone hear something weird up there while we were walking through the cave?"

"Nope," Sam replied. "Maybe you need hearing aid, Ben."

"NO I DON'T YOU JERK!" Ben shouted. "Hey, let's see if we can get some berries which we can force Axel to make Pokéblocks with."

"Well, I don't know about berries, but there's an apple tree over-" Cynthia began.

*insert record scratch here*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AN APPLE TREE! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!" Ben shouted, unsheathing his swords.

"Uh…Ben?" Cynthia asked, sweatdropping. "Are you having a mental breakdown?"

"WTF is going on?" Sam wondered, eyebrow twitching. At this point, an apple randomly dropped from the tree and rolled towards Ben's foot.

*insert loud screaming sounds here*

*insert thud here*

"B-Ben? Are you alright?" Cynthia screamed as Ben slammed into the ground, fully unconscious.

"He fainted," Sam replied, as if that wasn't obvious. "Well…Eterna's just across the road. Let's go." (NOTE: The west segment of Route 211 goes to Eterna City, non-Diamond and Pearl players.)

"Wait a minute…" Cynthia paused, listening intently. "Do you hear something?"

They were suddenly interrupted by a mob of Cipher Peons running away, screaming. "Wait, WTF?" Sam shouted, grabbing onto a tree to avoid being swept away. Cynthia did the same while holding onto Ben.

"Where are they all running to-" Cynthia was cut short by a METEOR flying past them and striking the Cipher Peons, sending them flying to distant planets. "What the f*bleep* was that?"

"…did I overdo it?" Drakanohi wondered, landing on the ground and gazing across the vast crater he just created.

"Yes, you overdid it _a lot_," Arboreon commented, walking up next to him. "I have to congratulate you for being the only Elemental who ended up furthering Cipher's plans of complete and utter destruction."

"Shut up! Everyone makes mistakes!" Drakanohi protested, flapping his wings indignantly.

"Who the heck are these?" Sam wondered. "They look like Pokémon, but they can talk. Pokémon that do that are weird!"

"You're one yourself, you know," Cynthia reminded Sam.

"So? I'm a Real Hero, so I'm exempt from that!" Sam declared, clenching his fist to make himself look awesome. (Which he didn't XD)

Drakanohi and Arboreon looked at him, then at each other. Then in a flash of indigo and green light, respectively, the two returned to their human forms. "Okay, NOW are we free to talk without insult now?" Silver asked.

"…" Kotone and Silver sweatdropped as Sam was forced to pick up his jaw and put it back in place (jaw dropped XD). "Hey, is it just me, or does his aura seem rather icy?" Kotone asked.

"No, it's not just you," Silver replied. "Maybe he's the Ice Elemental. That's one we were missing."

"Wait, you guys know about the Elementals? I thought you were weirdos!" Sam shouted, ignoring that Cynthia was trying to get his attention.

Kotone and Silver, in response, held up their Pokédex Ultras. "What does this tell you?" Kotone asked.

"That you saw my Pokédex and created a ripoff?" Sam replied. The two immediately rocked back on their heels at this. "What? It's true! Your Pokédexes look like ripoffs of mine!" Sam shouted.

"LISTEN TO ME GOD D*bleep* IT!" Cynthia shouted, sending out Garchomp and having her Dragon Rush into Sam's side.

"OWWWWWWWWWW!" Sam shouted, going flying about 5 meters into the air (despite the fact that he's super effective against Dragons -_-).

"Now that I have your attention," Cynthia began, thoroughly irritated about how long it took for her to get Sam's attention, "those people ARE Elementals."

"WAIT, HOW DID YOU KNOW? YOU'RE NOT A REAL HE-"

**KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

A huge meteor was now lodged in the ground, and Sam underneath it. Vein throbbing, Cynthia decided it was best to ignore Sam right now; the two she was seeing right now seemed more interesting. "Pardon his rudeness," she told Silver and Kotone. "He's very egotistical. Anyway, I gather you're-" she gestured at Silver here. "-the Dragon Elemental, and the-" now she gestured at Kotone. "Grass Elemental?"

"Err…right," Silver said awkwardly. "But seriously, how DID you know? And who are you, anyway?"

"Silver, what kind of idiot are you?" Kotone shouted, waving her arms in a comical fashion. "That's the Champion of Sinnoh, Cynthia! Don't you know she's sort of a maniac on history? Of course she'd know about this legend!"

"Oh, right," Silver said lamely. "Wait, this is the _Champion_? What's she doing around Eterna?"

Cynthia grabbed the unconscious Ben's iTouch. "I don't know how it exists, but my friend here has an app which tracks Cipher's activities," she told them. "And it said that there were large amounts of Cipher Peons here."

"Except they're gone now," Kotone pointed in the direction they went. "Their leader's still around, but he's…sort of going through a mental breakdown. You don't want to get near him."

"Hey! What the heck is that?" Silver suddenly shouted, pointing in the direction of Mt. Coronet.

Cynthia and Kotone whirled, and immediately were greeted by seeing a mottled purple-black fog covering the mountain. "Mt. Coronet is covered in shadow?" Kotone gasped. "What's going on? Is Cipher's plan…entering its final stage?"

* * *

**Random Bonus Story…XD**

**CAUTION: Certain cards in this story I made up. I'll tell you which ones. Also, several other cards I refer to by their Japanese names because I think they sound cooler. I'll also inform you about which ones.**

"Hey! Cynthia!" Sam shouted. "He's finally waking up!"

"Urgh…" Ben groaned, slowly coming to. He was lying on the couch in Axel's house. "Ow…what happened?"

"You fainted when you saw an apple tr-" Cynthia began.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! NO NO NO NOT APPLES! ANYTHING BUT APPLES!" Ben screamed, clutching his head.

"C-calm down!" Kotone shouted, grabbing him. "What's so bad about apples?"

"Axel challenged me to a Children's Card Game on Motorcycles once," Ben replied shakily (what will follow is ALSO the whole reason that Ben hates Card Games on Motorcycles). "And then…"

* * *

_Several years ago…_

Axel and Ben were riding on the highway on noticeably lower-tech motorcycles than the ones they used now. Two Duel Disks (Google "Duel Disk" if you want) were mounted on their motorcycles, and several cards placed on them. Two devices on their wrists held their decks and the cards in their hands so the two could focus on steering. Hovering above them were several things:

On Axel's field: Four face-down Spell/Trap cards. Axel has one card in his hand, and is at 4800 Life Points. His Speed Counters are at 4. He has one monster on his field in Attack Mode.

**Nitro Warrior—FIRE, Level 7—Warrior/Synchro/Effect—ATK: 2800, DEF: 1800**

Once during each of your turns, if you activated a Spell Card, this card gains 1000 ATK during its next attack, for damage calculation only. Once per turn, if this attacking card destroys an opponent's monster by battle, you can change 1 face-up Defense Position monster your opponent controls to Attack Position, and attack it with this card.

On Ben's field: Three face-down Spell/Trap cards. Ben has one card in his hand, and is at 4600 Life Points. His Speed Counters are at 8. He has three copies of the same monster on his side of the field in Defense Mode.

**Kaibaman—LIGHT, Level 3—Warrior/Effect—ATK: 200, DEF: 700**

You can tribute this card to Special Summon one "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" from your hand.

"Don't think your three Kaibaman can stand up to Nitro Warrior for long!" Axel shouted, speeding ahead. "Nitro Warrior has _far_ more ATK than all three Kaibaman!"

"That's what you think!" Ben replied, reaching for his wrist dealer (the thing holding his cards on his wrist). "My turn!" **(Axel's SPC: 4****-****5, Ben's SPC: 8-9)**

Ben looked down at the card he'd drawn and smiled. "I activate Speed Spell: Angel Baton!" he shouted. "When my Speed Counters are 2+, I draw two cards and discard one!" He reached for his deck, and pulled out two cards. One look at them, and Ben smirked; his plan was complete. "I send the White Stone of Legend from my hand to the graveyard!" he declared. "But! When White Stone of Legend is sent to the Graveyard, I add one Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my hand!" The wrist dealer came to life, and the cards shuffled back and forth in the machine before a certain card-obviously Blue-Eyes White Dragon-shuffled to the top of his deck.

Axel was fully aware of what was going on. "Frick," he muttered.

"Now, Kaibaman's effect activates!" Ben declared. All three Kaibamen stood up and began to dissolve into white light. "By tributing a Kaibaman, I can Special Summon a Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my hand. Appear now, my three Blue-Eyes White Dragons!" The white light from the Kaibamen came together in a new form, and then that light peeled away, revealing the mighty Blue-Eyes White Dragons.

**Blue-Eyes White Dragon—LIGHT, Level 8—Dragon—ATK: 3000, DEF: 2500**

_This legendary dragon is a powerful engine of destruction. Virtually invincible, very few have faced this awesome creature and lived to tell about it._

"Blue-Eyes has more ATK than Nitro Warrior!" Ben bragged. "Now, Battle! Blue-Eyes, attack Nitro Warrior!" The first Blue-Eyes moved forward and began to charge blue light in his mouth before firing it at Nitro Warrior.

"I activate a Trap!" Axel declared, pressing a button on his Duel Disk. "Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" One of his face-down cards flipped up, sending a scarecrow composed of…er…scrap (obviously) flying in front of the attack, leaving Nitro Warrior was unharmed. "This card can negate your attack, and then Set itself face-down to be used again next turn!" (NOTE: Cards cannot be used on the turn they are Set.) The card reappeared and flipped downward, and the Scarecrow disappeared underneath it.

"But!" Ben declared. "There's the _second_ Blue-Eyes! Go!" The second Blue-Eyes began to charge a blast of light in his own mouth, creating a blinding blue radiance. "Attack Nitro Warrior! _Burst Stream of Destruction!_" Another blast of blue light zoomed at Nitro Warrior. This time, Nitro Warrior braced his hands against it, his tail and wrist engines blazing, but he couldn't stand up to it and was sent flying, exploding into many fragments.

"Urgh…" Axel growled as he felt a jolt of stimulated pain. **(Axel's LP: 4800****-****4600)** "I activate another Trap!" he declared, and another card flipped up. "Crush Star! **(anime only)**" Two twinkling stars burst from Nitro Warrior's fragments and raced in front of Axel's field. "When a Synchro Monster is destroyed by battle," Axel explained, "I can Special Summon two monsters-one from my hand, one from my graveyard-with 1000- ATK! Come!" The twinkling stars burst into real shape. "Bolt Hedgehog! Road Runner!"

**Bolt Hedgehog (Quillbolt Hedgehog)—EARTH, Level 2—Machine/Effect—ATK: 800, DEF: 800**

If you control a face-up Tuner monster, you can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard. If this card was Summoned this way, remove it from play when it is removed from the field.

**Road Runner (Sonic Chick)—EARTH, Level 1—Winged Beast/Effect—ATK: 300, DEF: 300**

This card cannot be destroyed by battle with a monster that has 1900 or more ATK.

"Haha…I knew you'd do that!" Ben laughed, and a Set Card flipped up. "I activate my own Trap! Giant Trap Hole!" A giant gaping hole appeared in the ground, and Bolt Hedgehog, Road Runner, and all three Blue-Eyes began to fall into the hole (despite the fact that Blue-Eyes has WINGS). "When two or more monsters are Summoned at the same time," Ben explained, "I can destroy all monsters on the field!"

"You're destroying your own Blue-Eyes?" Axel asked, unbelieving what was going on.

"That's not all!" Ben continued. "Trap card, activate! Emergency Fusion **(my fanfic only)**! By paying 1000 Life Points, this card allows me to Fusion Summon during either player's Battle Phase, using cards I have on the field! And then, a third Trap card! Fusion Protector **(my fanfic only)**! When a card would be Fusion Summoned, I can make that card unaffected by the effects of other monsters, Spells, and Trap Cards." **(Ben's LP: 4600****-****3600)**

"So this was his plan all," Axel growled, watching Bolt Hedgehog and Road Runner fall into the giant hole. "But…" He smirked and looked at his two remaining Set cards. "I have one final ace in the hole!"

All three Blue-Eyes began to swirl together in a flash of blue light. Then out of the blue light flew a mighty blue-white dragon with three heads. Powerful jagged wings propelled it forward, looming over Axel. A long tail whipped back and forth behind it, while the sharp claws it carried gleamed wickedly in the sun. All three rounded heads bore black marks streaming backwards, and their eyes glowed bright blue…and were fixed on Axel. "Fusion Summon!" Ben declared, thrusting up his hand. "Come forth, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

**Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon—LIGHT, Level 12—Dragon/Fusion—ATK: 4500, DEF: 3800**

"**Blue-Eyes White Dragon" + "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" + "Blue-Eyes White Dragon"**

"Now your field is empty!" Ben crowed, pointing. "Unless those set cards can save you, my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon is invincible! Now, Blue-Eyes, Direct Attack Axel! _Ultimate Burst!_" Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon flew into the space above Axel, rearing back his three heads and charging a blue beam of light in each head, then threw them all down at Axel.

"GAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Axel screamed at the top of his lungs, riding out of the azure explosion. **(Axel's LP: 4600****-****100)** "Augh…no!" the Origin Captain groaned, staring at his hand. "My Life Points…" He clenched his fist and howled, "MY LIFE POINTS!"

"Yeah! Take that!" Ben crowed, riding up closer to Axel. "See how much damage you've taken? I'll defeat you immediately on my next turn!"

"No! NO! IT'S NOT FAIR! It's not fair…!" Axel wailed, doubling over. Then he threw his head back again and screamed. "MY LIFE POINTS ARE…" He suddenly brought his head down to look at Ben again…and he was _grinning_. "…completely unharmed."

"WTF?" Ben screamed, unbelieving what Axel just said.

"I activate my _two_ Trap Cards!" Axel shouted, pressing the buttons on his Duel Disk. Both flipped up to reveal a golden apple on them, hovering over dark waters. "The Golden Apples! When I take an instance of damage and control no monsters, I gain Life Points equal to the amount I lost! But I activated two The Golden Apples, so this allows me to gain DOUBLE!"

"WHAT? NO! THIS CANNOT BE!" Ben screamed, watching two golden apples appear in midair, shining golden light on Axel.

Axel grabbed both and took a bite out of each. "Delicious!" he commented, even though they were only holograms. **(Axel's LP: 100****-****9100…OMG IT'S OVER 9000 O_o)** "And then, I can Special Summon a Malus Token-or rather, TWO- with ATK and DEF equal to the life points I gained from this effect!"

"Hold on. WHAT?" Ben exclaimed as the apples began to emanate rainbow-colored, flame-like auras, and two eyes, a nose and a mouth appeared in the flames, showing a wicked smile.

**Malus Token—DARK, Level 1—Fiend/Token**

**ATK: 4500, DEF: 4500**

"…Axel, how could you use such a card?" Ben asked, eyes tearing up. "Mutant apples killed my family!"

"Wait, really?" Axel shouted. "You never told me that!"

*insert record scratch here*

"No, you idiot, they were killed by a murderer who I still am trying to find!" Ben shouted, pretty annoyed. "I thought you were my friend! I thought you knew me!"

"…" Axel's head slammed lamely on the Duel Disk in frustration.

"Anyway, I end my Battle Phase and activate the effect of Speed World 2!" Ben shouted. "By decreasing my Speed Counters by 7, I can draw 1 card!" **(Ben's SPC: 9****-****2)** Ben grabbed a card and pulled it out, looking down. "Heh heh heh…" he laughed. "I tribute Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

Blue-Eyes began to shimmer and transformed into a blue light, which then reformed into a new shape, silhouetted to the players' view. Then blue lines tracing across its body flashed, and trailing blue light, the dragon flew into the air, spreading its wings, then roared as it entered a downward spiral before allowing all the light to disperse, revealing its true form. Aqua gems sparkled in the sun. No arms were on this dragon, but its metallic wings were truly majestic. An arrow-shaped head glowered down at Axel, attempting to intimidate him. "Shine forth, Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon!" Ben shouted, placing the card on his Duel Disk.

**Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon—LIGHT, Level 10—Dragon/Effect—ATK: 3000, DEF: 2500**

Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must be Special Summoned by Tributing 1 "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" you control, and cannot be Special Summoned other ways. This card gains 300 ATK for each Dragon-Type Monster in your Graveyard. You can negate Monster effects, Spells, and Traps that target this card.

"Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon gains 300 ATK for each Dragon in my Graveyard!" Ben bragged. "I have _13 _Dragons in my Graveyard! Meaning, his ATK is…!" **(Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon-ATK: 3000-6900)**

"6900 ATK…" Axel gritted his teeth. "That's a pain to beat. But anyway, _now_ you're out of options, as you've ended your Battle Phase. So…it's my turn!" **(Axel's SPC: 5-6, Ben's SPC: 2-3) **One look at the card he had drawn, and Axel was immediately sure of his victory. The card had a picture of a tiny man with an orange body made of junk. "I summon Junk Synchron!" Axel shouted, slamming the card on his Duel Disk. A blue portal appeared next to him, and the tiny scrap-metal man jumped out.

**Junk Synchron—DARK, Level 3—Warrior/Tuner—ATK: 1300, DEF: 800**

When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower Monster from your Graveyard. Its effects are negated.

"Junk Synchron can Special Summon a Level 2 or lower Monster from my Graveyard in Defense Mode with its effects negated," Axel continued. "Revive, Bolt Hedgehog!" Junk Synchron pointed his hand, causing another portal to appear, and Bolt Hedgehog leaped out, crouching defensively **(Bolt Hedgehog: 800 DEF)**. "Here we go!" Axel declared, thrusting his hand upward. "Tuning Bolt Hedgehog with Junk Synchron!"

Junk Synchron reached down and pulled a cord sticking out of his torso, and a V-shaped engine on his back began to cough and sputter. Then Junk Synchron split into 3 stars which flew into the air before circling around Bolt Hedgehog, creating 3 green rings with hachure lines. Bolt Hedgehog turned orange and transparent, two green-white stars appearing.** (2+3=5)** "_Clustering Stars will call forth a new power,"_ Axel recited. _"Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon!"_

The rings generated a green beam of light which blasted above Ben and Axel. Out of the beam leapt a purple humanoid robot with a white scarf. On his back was a V-shaped engine, and jets were attached to either shoulder, wings protruding out of each one. In his right hand was a studded weapon (a brass knuckle?) meant for greatly increasing the lethality of punches. The warrior jumped into the air, drew his fist back, and let out a battle cry, punching the air and creating a web of yellow lightning. "Come forth, Junk Warrior!" Axel shouted, slamming the white-framed card on his Duel Disk.

**Junk Warrior—DARK, Level 5—Warrior/Synchro/Effect—ATK: 2300, DEF: 1300**

"**Junk Synchron" + 1 or more non-Tuner Monsters**

When this card is Synchro Summoned successfully, it gains ATK equal to the total ATK of all Level 2 or lower monsters you control.

"Junk Warrior gains the ATK of all Level 2 or lower monsters," Axel said. Then he grinned and added, "And shall I remind you that the Malus Tokens are Level 1?" Ben's mouth dropped open. "Go! _Power of Fellows!_" Axel declared. **(Both Malus Tokens—ATK: 4500) **The Malus Tokens emanated their aura more prominently, and Junk Warrior flashed with the same aura, immersed in the power of the Malus Tokens. **(Junk Warrior—ATK: 2300-11300)**

"OMG IT'S OVER 9000! O_o" Ben shouted, crushing a D-Gazer that was on his eye for no apparent reason (despite the fact that Solid Vision doesn't need D-Gazers).

"Battle! Junk Warrior, attack Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon!" Axel shouted. Junk Warrior flipped into the air, then spread his arms and legs and flew straight down at Blue Eyes White Dragon, his jets flaring. As Junk Warrior spiraled at the dragon, a giant fist of energy surrounded him. "_Scrap Fist!"_

"…I hate apples," Ben muttered as Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon blasted a laser from his mouth at Junk Warrior, which the warrior punched through easily. "And I'm never playing Card Games on Motorcycles ever again…"

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

* * *

**Moral:**

**Apples are evil.**

* * *

…**oh, I'm sorry. Did I just offend anyone who likes apples (including myself)? Sorry. XD I just saw the episode in which this card was used, and I was laughing so hard at Brave's "Oh noes, My Life Points!—just kidding lol" performance that I just **_**had**_** to put something in with "The Golden Apples." (This is one of the few cards whose English name I prefer over the Japanese name, which is "Apple of Frigg.")**

**Why is Axel ripping off Yusei, you ask (he uses most of the same cards Yusei does)? I'm just going to answer like this: JUNK WARRIOR FTW! (Along with Road Warrior, it's one of my favorite cards :D Too bad if we make a Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic, Axel will be getting a new deck which **_**won't **_**support Junk Warrior too well D:)**

**Fun fact: **_**Malus**_** is the species name for apples. It also is Latin for "evil." (Dun, Dun, DUUUUUUUUUN!) Hooray for trivia! :D**

**During January, I'm WAY too busy, so that's a time when I don't upload much. So I had to post this in February. Sorry, people.**

**What the heck was that darkness they saw over Mt. Coronet, you wonder? That's something crucial to the plot, so…CAN'T TELL YOU. XD**


	33. Night's Death

**Hello everyone. This chapter of Shadows of the Demon will be longer than most, and it will also be the most heartbreaking. I've been going through a problem. A friend-who I am forbidden to name-has been giving me trouble. He began reading my stories, and though I guess you could say he liked them, I failed to appeal to him.**

**How have I failed? I made Axel far too powerful. His strength was godlike; there was no way anyone could beat him. And this friend aspired to match Axel. He created a **_**Zanpaku-to**_** which he believed could match Axel's **_**Shiruba-Getsu**_**. But this was incorrect. His **_**Zanpaku-to**_** completely surpassed Axel entirely. Even **_**Doki no Shiruba-Getsu**_** couldn't hold a candle to the **_**Zanpaku-to**_** created.**

**But I dismissed it as a bad idea. So more **_**Zanpaku-to**_** came. It was making me feel very grieved about my horrible writing. If killing Axel could stop his creation of insane powers, I'd do that. I realize that my fans aren't limited to him, but…and I'm sorry to say…because he always managed to end up 1 meter away from me somehow, I felt he would bother me more than anyone else.**

**If you can't handle the emotions, I will allow you to stop reading. No review necessary. Why should a bad writer like me ask, anyway?**

**Credit goes to Ashley Eon for several ideas in this chapter. On a lighter note, I must mention that she apparently was inspired by me, so that's a rather interesting twist-to be using ideas from the author inspired by myself.**

* * *

"Ow…that hurt like h*bleep*," Axel grumbled, getting onto his motorcycle. "Eddie, remind me to kill you later."

"Hey, it was an accident!" Eddie protested. "Don't you know that I don't really pay attention to peoples' _reiatsu_ these days?"

"Look, shut up and-huh?" Axel turned to the screen on his motorcycle to see an image of Thorton (or rather the Factory Head, if you forgot who the heck he is). "Oh, hey Thorton! What's up?" He listened, and then his eyes bugged out. "T-TEN TRAINERS WAITING? ZOH MAH GOD I GOTTA GET GOING PEOPLE! TIME TO RUN!" And then he somehow got from Iron Island to the Battle Frontier in 1 minute.

"O_o Okay…I guess we'd better see how the others are doing. Let's head to Oreburgh and see if we can help there," Aeron decided. Eddie, meanwhile, was attempting to do random tricks on his motorcycle (which resulted in him spinning out and crashing). "Eddie, stop that. We're heading to Oreburgh. C'mon."

* * *

_At Snowpoint…_

The ice shattered, sending a cloud of diamond dust through the air. Rocky stood uncertainly, trying to see through the dust. "Are you alright? It'd be bad if you were injured while I was trying to free you from the ice."

"I'm just fine," Luna replied, standing up and expelling the water from her clothes. "I didn't think I'd lose so easily to him…"

"Meh, it's an Elemental. What else can we do?" Rocky asked, shrugging. "So, what's our next course of action? Let's head back to our base to figure that out. While Frostelius and Shooter are currently in combat, the majority of us are on standby, so we'll make our next move now."

"Which brings me to ask," Luna said. "About IS-LGA…has its Corruption level been amped up?"

"Yeah," Rocky replied. "It should be both unable to be snagged or purified at this rate. However, having to charge it with shadow energy after every battle is annoying."

"The rewards will pay off," Luna reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Rocky; I've found out a way for us to make its strength far exceed an Elemental's or an Origin Captain's. So when we get back, we'll be able to turn IS-LGA into the ultimate fighting machine. Do you suppose it would be enough to meet _his_ demands, were he still with us?"

"What worked for Cipher's greater good worked for _him_," Rocky replied. "Of course it would meet his demands."

* * *

_In the Battle Tower… _

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!" Axel shouted, dashing into the Battle Tower. "Gotta get battling right away!" He ran into the battle room at full speed, not bothering to think about whether it'd look conspicuous or not. Pikachu quickly jumped off Axel's shoulder while he was moving and sliding across the Battle Tower floor to where the referee usually stands (Pikachu is usually saved for last). Axel ran to the other side of the battlefield, then paused to catch his breath. When he finally got up, he noticed the trainer staring, completely dumbstruck. "Sorry I'm late," Axel gasped to the dumbfounded trainer. "Let's begin our battle!"

* * *

_9 trainers later…_

"Yes! Now there's only one more…" Axel cheered. "Wow, I haven't had to hand out any symbols at all. I guess I'm too good at this job. Okay, who's last?"

"I'll be the last one," a teenage girl replied, walking into the room. She was wearing a simple green dress and a hat which covered her eyes, and had long brown hair.

"…what kind of outfit is that?" Pikachu muttered, but only so that Axel could hear. (Now he was standing next to Axel, because he actually had to come out in some battles.) "It's like she's trying to make it so that we can't know who she is."

"Something seems odd in the _reiatsu_ around her," Axel added. "So you think she's trying to pull a fast one over us, Pikachu?" Pikachu shrugged.

"What's wrong?" the girl asked, noting Axel's hesitance and Pikachu's uneasiness with a smirk. "Are you scared?"

"Heck no!" Axel replied. He was suspicious, but definitely not scared. "Let's go! Come on out, Ninetales!" The Fox Pokémon bounded forth and gracefully shifted into a sitting position, allowing her nine tails to flow out, and let out a prideful howl.

"A Ninetales? That's not a very good choice," the girl scoffed. Ninetales immediately growled at this, but the girl ignored. "Let me show you why. Go, Swampert!"

It was when Axel felt the Swampert's _reiatsu_ when everything went wrong. _What the heck? That _reiatsu_…why does this girl have a SHADOW Pokémon? _"Ah, seems you've noticed," the girl said, smiling. Then she pulled off her hat, revealing brown goggles with green lenses and straps, and brown eyes. "I expect Aeron told you who I am?"

"Hm…" Axel thought about it. "Wait…You're that Admin Aeron said he fought while we were in the lab! What're you doing here? And more importantly, I didn't catch the name."

"In that case, I'm Gaea," the girl replied. "The reason why I'm here…is because Cipher requires me to eliminate you, Axel Nightblazer."

"Well I'm not going down without a fight!" Axel replied defiantly. "C'mon, let's go!"

"But first, I'll shed this disguise," Gaea declared, lifting the dress off of herself. Axel freaked out for a moment, but then realized that she wore underneath a sleeveless green shirt with brown portions near her midriff. She also had a blue scarf, brown shorts, and a green vest-sort of thing. Thinking about it, Axel remembered that this was the outfit Aeron said she wore. "Alright, Nightblazer, shall we begin?" Gaea asked.

"Sure," Axel replied. "Whenever you're ready!" Pikachu made a gesture to ask Axel if he could battle _first_, but Axel shook his head. Pikachu would _not_ be a good choice against this girl, if her element was Earth.

_Cipher Admin Gaea would like to batt_

* * *

_le! (And, just because I'm sick of hearing people around me pronouncing it and getting it wrong, it's pronounced JEE-ah!)_

"Swampert, attack! Muddy Water!" Gaea ordered. Swampert roared and caused a wave of muddy water to rise up and surge towards Ninetales.

"Oh, yuck!" Ninetales cried when she saw the mud surging towards her. "What a filthy move!"

"Yeah, I know, but that doesn't matter. Dodge it, Ninetales!" Axel shouted. "And while you're at it, use Sunny Day!" Ninetales (somehow) jetted herself upwards over the wave with Fire Blast, then landed on the muddy floor completely unharmed. Because of the intense rays of sun, the mud dried up before she landed. "Now use Solarbeam!" Axel declared. Ninetales reared back and fired a mighty beam of sunlight, but Swampert did a roll out of the way. Then Swampert gathered what little mud remained wet in a ball in front of his face, then fired it at Ninetales.

Ninetales simply cocked her head and let it crash into the wall behind her. "Such a filthy move won't hit me," she declared. However, fresh mud went splattering everywhere from the mud bomb exploding. Ninetales felt the mud splatter across her fur, and obviously the Fox Pokémon didn't seem pleased.

"Yes, I realize your fur is marred now. But ignore it, Ninetales. Dig!" Axel ordered. Ninetales protested a bit because of how dirty the ground was, but finally dug into the floor through the mud which was still dry (no, I can't really explain how Ninetales can dig through the floor of the Battle Tower). But Swampert had been waiting for this moment. He smashed the ground with his hands, causing a massive seismic wave. "Oh, crap! Ninetales! Protect!" Axel ordered. Unseen to them, Ninetales created a green energy shield, protecting herself from the earthquake. Then the Fox Pokémon dug up right underneath Swampert and charged up a ball of green energy before shooting it out, sending Swampert flying.

Ninetales started to walk after Swampert, but then noticed the mud around her was still wet (somehow) and stopped. "I'm not going to walk in there," she decided.

"Ninetales, that doesn't matter right now!" Axel shouted. "Just attack Swampert!"

"Fine, but I'll do it my way," Ninetales replied defiantly, blasting Swampert from a distance with Solarbeam before he could get up. Swampert growled and rose, gathering lots and lots of water, then blasting it at Ninetales in two magnificent streams of water.

"Ninetales, quick! Solar Wind Destroyer!" Axel shouted. Ninetales began to gather sunlight and heat, creating a fireball which became bigger and bigger, then reared back and blasted it at Hydro Cannon, evaporating it in a fiery explosion. Flames were sent flying from the blast and left the battlefield a mess of flame and dried mud. Swampert tried to advance, but there were too many flames to do anything. So he roared and summoned water, creating a swirling whirlpool which (eventually) doused the flames and muddied the ground further.

"This particular Pokémon clearly doesn't appreciate unmarred beauty," Ninetales growled as some mud splattered onto her paw.

"Ninetales! Pay attention! Solarbeam!" Axel ordered. Ninetales decided to quit complaining about the mud and fired Solarbeam at Swampert.

"Idiot!" Gaea laughed. "Because it refracts in water, the Solarbeam will just disperse as soon as it touches the Whirlpool!"

"And how will that affect the performance of it?" Axel countered innocently. The Solarbeam dispersed, alright…but it blasted the mud, heating it up and causing the water to evaporate. Swampert roared in surprise when he discovered the whirlpool to be gone. "Let's go, Ninetales!" Axel shouted. "One more Solarbeam!" Swampert whipped up a storm of shadow and sent it hurtling at Ninetales. But Ninetales pierced through the shadow with her blast of sunlight, smashing Swampert and knocking him out. "Epic, Ninetales!" Axel grinned.

Ninetales gave him a smile, feeling proud of herself. "Of course that would be expected from someone like me." (Yeah, Ninetales is rather prideful/vain.)

"Yay! Great going out there, Ninetales!" Pikachu cheered, clapping. Ninetales smiled at him as well.

"We'll see how epic this can get," Gaea replied. "Go, Steelix!" The Iron Snake Pokémon flew high into the air and let out a savage roar, which made even Ninetales quiver in fear. "She's fearful? Good. She should be!" Gaea declared. "Steelix, attack! Earthquake!"

"Ninetales! Protect!" Axel ordered. Ninetales braved the quake with her energy shield, then unleashed Fire Blast on Steelix. However, Steelix created his own green energy shield and let the five-pointed cross of fire explode around him.

"Steelix! Shadow Break!" Gaea ordered. Steelix roared and gathered shadowy energy around himself, then slammed into Ninetales as hard as he could, breaking the control over the energy at the last moment to allow it to keep going and slam Ninetales into the wall.

"Urgh…" Ninetales growled, standing up. "That was certainly ungraceful…"

"Graceful, my foot! Steelix, Shadow End!" Gaea shouted. Steelix roared and gathered so much energy at his head that it was barely restrained, and slammed into Ninetales with all his might. But the backlash from the strike sent Steelix reeling.

"We can't let that Steelix keep fighting. Let's finish this, Ninetales!" Axel shouted, as the Fox Pokémon got up to her feet with a grunt. "You know what to do, right?"

"I certainly do," Ninetales replied, and with that, she began to charge up Solar Wind Destroyer.

"I won't allow you to use Solar Wind Destroyer!" Gaea declared. "Steelix! Stone Edge!" Steelix gathered pointed stones in light blue rings around himself, then his eyes glowed red and all the stones went flying at Ninetales.

"Oh no!" Axel shouted. "Fire, Ninetales! It doesn't matter if it's fully charged or not!" Axel shouted. Ninetales blasted the undercharged Solar Wind Destroyer, which surged at the stones, pushing them back long enough for Ninetales to run away before they hit.

"Hmph, that's the best you can do?" Gaea smirked. "Steelix, Thunder Fang!" Steelix reared up before surging at Ninetales, his fangs crackling. Ninetales blasted Energy Ball directly into his mouth, but Steelix only grunted in surprise. Ninetales then used Fire Blast directly into Steelix's mouth, causing the Iron Snake Pokémon to roar in pain. However, his outstretched fang dug into Ninetales, who let out a scream of pain.

"Steelix! This is the last you can do! Shadow Explosion!" Gaea shouted. Steelix's eyes glowed purple, then he let out an explosion of dark purple energy, blasting Ninetales with all his remaining strength and knocking her out cold.

"Good job, Ninetales. Now return, and rest," Axel declared, bringing Ninetales back to her Pokéball. "If you're the Admin of Earth, I guess, then…Go, Chikorita!"

*insert record scratch here*

"Seriously?" Gaea asked, sweatdropping. "A Chikorita? Why would the Tower Tycoon have a Starter Pokémon completely unevolved? Fine, go, Flygon! Let's show him what kind of Pokémon a _real _Tower Tycoon should have!"

"W-what a _r-real _T-Tower Tycoon should have?" Chikorita repeated, and then she immediately started crying about this. Pikachu quickly ran over to her side and began to try to soothe her.

This, of course, immediately ticked off Axel. "THAT. DOES. IT. CHIKORITA, USE FRENZY PLANT!" The now kind of angry Chikorita let out a cry, and many roots burst out of the ground. Flygon attempted to fly out of the way, but the roots just surged up higher and grabbed him, constricting and cutting into the Mist Pokémon's skin.

"Flygon, Fire Blast!" Gaea ordered. Flygon roared and unleashed a five pointed star of flame, burning the roots. Flygon dropped to the ground and gathered indigo energy at his tail, whipping the helpless (due to recharging) Chikorita with it.

"That's not nice!" Chikorita shouted angrily. "Giga Drain! She produced glowing green vines, which wrapped around Flygon, and the Mystic Pokémon screeched as they leeched the energy out of him.

"Gotcha!" Axel grinned. "Chikorita, attack! Magical Leaf!" Chikorita whirled the leaf on her head around, launching twin leaves flashing with different colors of the rainbow, an ethereal field of light surrounding them. Flygon tried to retaliate with Fire Blast, but too much of his energy was being taken for it to be effective, and the leaves just sliced through the fire, moving on to slash the Mystic Pokémon.

"Flygon! Dragon Tail!" Gaea called. Flygon's eyes snapped open, and he used his tail, now glowing with indigo energy, to slash through the energy vines, breaking free. Of course, as soon as he touched the ground, Chikorita's eyes flashed green, causing little pieces of grass to knot around his feet, causing him to trip and fall. "Fine, if that's the way you want to play!" Gaea growled. "Flygon! Toxic!" Toxic energy gathered in front of Flygon's claws, and then two orbs of it spiraled at Chikorita, spinning around her before surging into her body.

Chikorita groaned, feeling the poison begin to eat away at her strength. She began to wobble, then fell to her knees. "Chikorita! Hang in there! Aromatherapy!" Axel shouted. Chikorita let out a groan, then got to her feet and raised her leaf, letting off a sweet scent, breathing it in. She let out a small sigh of contentment, and when she opened her eyes, she was free of the poison. "Now, Safeguard!" Axel ordered. Chikorita began to raise a clear blue, cylindrical barrier around herself.

"Flygon! Shadow Panic, before the barrier is completed!" Gaea shouted. Flygon reared back and roared, causing a shadowy aura with small swirls inside it to emanate from him, entering the barrier before it was fully raised. Chikorita coughed as she inhaled it, then suddenly started looking around, very panicked and confused.

"Crap! Now she's confused!" Axel realized. "Chikorita, Solarbeam and Light Screen!"

"Huh? What's that?" Chikorita wondered, pulling away from Axel. Clearly, she couldn't comprehend what Axel was saying. "Something must be coming…better make defenses for it!" Immediately, yellow and blue hexagonal plates surged through the air, arranging themselves around her to create a defensive barrier. Chikorita had decided to use Reflect and Light Screen to protect herself out of fear.

_Well, I guess that sort of went to my advantage,_ Axel thought. _Now, let's try again. _"Chikorita! Solarbeam!"

Again not hearing him correctly, Chikorita let out a cry of surprise and cried, "It must be a monster! Leaf Storm!" and began to spin the leaf on her head around and around, unleashing leaves in all directions which flew at Flygon, slashing him. (OMG A STARTER THAT HASN'T EVEN EVOLVED YET USED LEAF STORM WTF IS THIS I DON'T EVEN O3O)

"Err…I guess Leaf Storm works, too," Axel sighed. "I can't really command Chikorita, so I guess I'll just have to sit back and hope she uses a good move…"

"She won't have any time to do so! Flygon, attack!" Gaea shouted. "Draco Meteor!" Flygon spiraled into the air, then spread his wings and launched a glowing indigo rock into the air which split into many meteors that rained down on Chikorita. The yellow screen (bonus points if you can guess which one of Chikorita's moves it is!) flashed and became solid, and the meteor slammed against it, knocking Chikorita and her many barriers backward.

Small amounts of indigo energy surged through the spaces between the plates blasted Chikorita. "Ow! That was mean…" Chikorita groaned. Suddenly she gasped. "Huh-? What? Where am I?"

"Yes! She got over her confusion!" Axel grinned. "Chikorita! Attack with Power Whip!" (Chikorita really can't learn Power Whip. Although unless you use Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, a Chikorita can't know Frenzy Plant, either.)

"Right!" Chikorita shouted enthusiastically, and she jumped up, creating bright green whips of energy. Then they lashed out and whipped Flygon many times, usually finding a weak point and dealing Flygon massive damage. Flygon had taken so much of a beating, he couldn't stand up anymore and fainted. "Yes! I won!" Chikorita cheered. Pikachu cheered along with her.

"Looks like I win," Axel said, smiling. "Sorry, Gaea. You weren't able to get a Symbo-I mean, you weren't able to defeat me."

"That's what you think, but why don't we reintroduce you to a familiar face?" Gaea asked, pointing at the window.

"Huh?" Axel turned. "WHAT THE F*bleep*?" A shadowy aura filled the sky, deep purple clouds sending a mysterious rain on the Battle Frontier. Flashing lights (ironically, of shadow energy) crashed from the sky to the ground, creating widespread ruin. "This is weather that can only be caused by a Shadow Sky…" Axel murmured to himself. "But this is WAY different!"

The sea which the Battle Frontier rested next to was churning, black and purple energy flowing through it. Suddenly, there was a loud screeching noise, and before Axel knew it, the entire roof of the Battle Tower and the walls around him split into thousands of tiny shards of iron, glass and concrete, raining down around the battlefield. "LOOK OUT!" Chikorita shouted as a large sliver of iron fell towards Pikachu. The Leaf Pokémon quickly lashed out with her vines, pulling Pikachu close so that a blue barrier of hexagons could flash up in time and repel the rubble.

"Axel Nightblazer," Gaea called over the din, "Allow me to introduce you to our trump card." Then Axel was suddenly looking up at a black and red Lugia, whose red eyes glowered down on him with animosity. "This is IS-LGA," Gaea said. "The first Pokémon transcending Shadow itself. It has gone through the process of becoming a Shadow Pokémon many times in succession, as well as several other processes. Behold the proof of Cipher's power: the Demon Lugia!"

"Demon? That can't be!" Axel was stunned. "Cipher _really_ outdid themselves this time! But how can they even create a Pokémon like that?"

"Believe me, it took us FOREVER," Gaea replied. "Alright, Demon Lugia! Attack!" And at that moment, Demon Lugia swooped at Axel, shadows spiraling around him.

"Chikorita! Ancient Power!" Axel shouted. Chikorita let out a cry, causing stones to rise up into the air in a circle around her (and used their ancient power or whatever to enhance her abilities), then they flew at Demon Lugia, slamming him with a shining, unearthly power. But when Demon Lugia emerged from the rocks, he was completely unscathed. "WHAT? Aw man!" Axel groaned. "Fine! Chikorita, Frenzy Plant!" Roots sprang from the ground, but Demon Lugia flapped his wings and blew them all away.

"What do you think you're doing?" Gaea taunted. "Demon Lugia isn't affected by the likes of _your_ Pokémon!" At this moment, her bracelets flashed, and many blades of energy appeared at her wrists. Then she slashed at Axel, who was forced to jump away. However, Gaea's blades slashed through the floor of the Battle Tower, leaving deep gashes.

Axel looked at the gashes, and noticed he could see the floor underneath through them. _Those blades are really sharp. But…!_ Axel unsheathed his _Zanpaku-to_, and silver energy slide from its tip to the pommel. "Rule over the Midnight Heavens! _Shiruba-Getsu!_" he shouted, as the silver energy slid over his right arm, forming the gauntlet of hexagonal plates. Then his blade of energy slid out from a hexagonal plate as he thrust it at Gaea.

Gaea did a backflip backwards, avoiding the strike. To Axel's dismay, none of her blades came into contact with _Shiruba-Getsu_. "I know what you're thinking," she called. "You're probably planning to use that blade of yours which can cut through virtually anything thanks to its vibrating edge to destroy my weapon, right? Unfortunately, that won't work."

"And why not?" Axel asked. It was at this point when Gaea's blades met _Shiruba-Getsu_. But contrary to what Axel thought, it didn't cut in. Axel was surprised for a moment, but quickly took a look at Gaea's blade, noticing that the _reishi_ which composed it was cycling around and around. _Oh, crap. Her blades vibrate as fast as _Shiruba-Getsu_ does! So I'll have to go _Bankai_ in order to defeat her! _"_Bankai!_" Axel declared, and was enveloped in shining silver light. Soon after, he walked out with his wings and swords. "Now I've gotcha," Axel said. "Come on, Gaea!"

He forgot about Demon Lugia entirely.

* * *

Chikorita lashed out with her vines at Axel's belt (and somehow he didn't notice), swiping the remaining Pokéballs. Then she released Lucario, Latias, and Daikenki from them. "Guys, we've got trouble!" she explained, pointing at Demon Lugia, who roared at them. "We've got to do something!"

_No worries,_ Lucario replied through telepathy (although he had a strange habit of using both telepathy and sign language at the same time. _But aren't we missing one?_

"Ninetales fainted earlier," Pikachu explained. "Lucario, maybe you can heal her!" Lucario gestured for him to release Ninetales, so the Mouse Pokémon sent the unconscious Ninetales out of her Pokéball.

Lucario placed his hands on Ninetales' fur, and she was enveloped in blue aura. Soon, her injuries faded away, and she slowly stood up. "Uhgg…I HATE Explosions," she growled.

"Wait, you had Protect! You should've been able to avoid it!" Daikenki suddenly shouted.

"Shut UP," Ninetales snapped. "I was too exhausted to do so in time. That happens when you battle two high-level Shadow Pokémon which you have a type disadvantage against."

"Point taken," Daikenki replied. "By the way, WTF is with that Lugia, anyway?" At this moment, the blue barrier flared up as Demon Lugia smashed his foot against it.

"It's a Demon," Pikachu replied. All the Pokémon who hadn't been around at his advent looked at him, confused. "Basically, it's undergone the process of becoming a Shadow Pokémon many times in succession, and infused with the power of Demons to become a Demon itself," Pikachu explained.

"Well that's going to be tough to beat," Ninetales growled. "Good thing Light Screen, Safeguard, and Reflect are up."

Demon Lugia roared and spread his wings, causing many threads of shadow to suddenly whirl around the six Pokémon and constrict into a web, although none of the Pokémon were in contact with it. _What's this? Demon Lugia can weave spider webs? _Latias wondered, touching one of the threads.

**ZAP!**

Latias let out a cry of surprise and pulled away from the thread. _What was that? It feels like it burns when I touch it. Maybe the threads are coated with poison?_

_That's definitely not fair play,_ Lucario growled, clenching a fist. _His plan is to pen us in this web, so he doesn't have to work as hard to hit us. Well, we'll just have to cut it apart!_ He raised his hands and formed a bone two meters long, then sliced through several threads with it. _Daikenki, help me out with this._

"Right!" Daikenki replied, and his swords shone with blue energy. Then he slashed through the threads, shells randomly appearing and trailing his blades, tearing through the threads. Suddenly, Demon Lugia sent a spiraling gale ripping through the threads at Daikenki. "OH CRAP!" Daikenki shouted, jumping backwards to avoid it. "That does it! Hydro Cannon!" He pointed both his swords at Demon Lugia and launched a blast of super-pressurized water from each one, striking the Diving Pokémon.

However, Lugia emerged unscathed and merely used that water, tainting it with Shadow, swirling it in front of his face, and then launching a blast of blackened water which smashed Daikenki back into the barrier with the force of a meteor. _Forgot Lugia can use Hydro Pump, eh?_ Latias asked. Daikenki mumbled for her to shut up.

"Get him!" Ninetales shouted, generating a massive fireball from spiraling hot winds. "Solar Wind Destroyer!" The giant fireball crashed into Demon Lugia, knocking him backwards in an explosion of winds. However, Demon Lugia emerged unscathed. "That thing's a monster!" Ninetales gasped.

_I think that was kind of obvious, _Latias replied. _But THIS should do some good against him! _Latias fired a beam of light which rapidly froze over, striking Demon Lugia. However, only about a square meter of Demon Lugia's massive form was frozen before he shattered it and roared, flapping his wing and sending a black feather flying at them, causing a massive explosion.

"You've GOT to be kidding!" Pikachu shouted. "Try this, Lugia! Thunder Force!" He launched a mighty lightning bolt at the Demon, causing his entire form to be covered with crackling lighting. Without even waiting, Pikachu burst with electricity and jumped at the Demon, ignoring all the threads and the shadow energy they crackled with, slamming into Lugia and electrocuting him. Then Pikachu struck with thundering fists repeatedly. But Demon Lugia just glared at him with hate, completely unharmed.

"N-no way!" Chikorita stammered. "We can't even damage him?"

"Aw, crap," Pikachu groaned, before Demon Lugia flew up into the air, then roared and skydived straight down at the Mouse Pokémon, slamming him with a lot of Shadow power back into the barrier. "Ugh…" Pikachu groaned, stunned from the blow.

"Oh, no! Pikachu!" Chikorita panicked. She cradled him with glowing green vines, and then slowly, Pikachu's injuries began to heal. Chikorita winced as she felt her own energy fade. "How can we harm it?" the Leaf Pokémon wondered.

"Wait, I have an idea! Chikorita, we can use Energy Ball to weaken his defenses!" Ninetales suddenly said. The two Pokémon charged up spheres of pure green energy in front of their mouths, then from it fired a storm of Energy Balls.

_I'll help out, too!_ Latias thought, and she charged up her own sphere, firing out many green Energy Balls. All of them crashed against Demon Lugia's wings as he tried to defend himself. Then several small green lightning bolts coursed over Demon Lugia's form, and he roared as his defensive power began to weaken.

_Allow me to help in my own way,_ Lucario thought, and he raised his hands. His eyes closed as he focused on his hands, blocking out all distractions, creating clear blue spheres of energy in his hands. _Focus Blast!_ (Nope, it's not Aura Sphere. Surprised?) The blue spheres crashed into Demon Lugia, causing blue lightning to crackle over him, further weakening him. The blasts had more of an impact than Energy Ball, but several flew away and missed.

"That won't be enough!" Daikenki roared. "Lucario, use Metal Sound!" Lucario nodded and then rubbed his paws together, producing a super annoying sound of steel rubbing on steel. Demon Lugia roared in discontent and placed his wings over his ears (wherever they are), letting down his guard. "Here's our chance!" Daikenki declared. He howled and created a blizzard of ice which struck Lugia, and froze over his feathers partially. Demon Lugia roared in pain, but broke out WITH NO VISIBLE DAMAGE.

_This should do it!_ Lucario thought, creating balls of aura and firing them. Demon Lugia took to the sky and flew away, but the spheres followed and crashed into him. (Aura Sphere strikes without fail.)

As if on cue, the bad weather intensified. A ripping gale slammed against the barrier, and Latias winced as some of it got through and slashed her. _We need to stop this now! _she thought. _Look what Demon Lugia is doing!_ To all of Axel's Pokémon's horror, Demon Lugia was roaring as he called down dark bolts of lightning, summoned pitch-black typhoons, and ripped through the Battle Frontier with gales. _I'll stop him!_ the Eon Pokémon declared, and without waiting for an answer, she tucked in her arms and flew away after the Diving Pokémon.

"No, Latias!" Ninetales cried out, becoming worried. "Do you know what you're doing? This Pokémon has unreal power, and you're going out alone?"

_Of course I know what I'm doing!_ Latias replied, and then when Demon Lugia whirled around, whipping up a powerful gale, Latias created a Light Screen to block it, although a couple winds found their way in. Demon Lugia then tried to concentrate many gales on Latias at the same time, but Latias' feathers flashed, and she disappeared from sight. The Diving Pokémon roared and looked around for her, confused, before there was a metallic flash, and Latias' wings raked his side. In another place, light shone from thin air, freezing a small portion of Demon Lugia. However, Latias was doing almost nothing.

"At least she's not getting hurt," Daikenki sighed. "I suppose from here we'd better strike Demon Lugia with everything we have!" He began to charge up a Hydro Cannon, then blasted it at Demon Lugia. But that did nothing, and Demon Lugia just whirled and sent a whirlwind at them, slashing them with gales. "Okay, that was stupid," Daikenki grumbled.

"Chikorita, make it sunny!" Ninetales suggested. "Then Solar Wind Destroyer will be much more powerful, and you and Latias can use Solarbeam!"

"I-I'll try!" Chikorita nodded, and she raised her leaf. It became bright with energy, which surged into the dark clouds. But nothing happened. "It's not working!" Chikorita sighed, lowering her leaf. "I can't do a thing, Ninetales. I'm sorry."

"It's just fine!" Ninetales replied. "But we have to stop the storm he's bringing, or else…Oh, NO!" The other Pokémon followed her gaze and saw that far below them, other people were being struck by the flashing light that fell from the skies. "I'll stop it right now!" Ninetales shouted desperately, and she launched a Solar Wind Destroyer with all her might. However, Lugia just let it slam into him with no trouble at all, then roared and launched a wave of psychic energy, which rippled out and struck Ninetales. The Fox Pokémon screamed as her mind was assaulted.

"Ninetales!" Pikachu gasped. "No…STOP IT!" With all the strength he could muster, Pikachu leaped off the Battle Tower and jumped at Demon Lugia. It didn't matter that he couldn't stand up to the Diving Pokémon's might. It didn't matter that he had suffered lots of injury throughout the fight. It didn't matter that he was destined for a plummet of over 100 meters. He had to stop that demon from harming his friends further. "VOLT…TACKLE!" Thousands of volts pulled in around Pikachu, and he slammed into Demon Lugia as hard as he could, unleashing so much lightning he was getting damaged by his own attack.

"Pikachu!" Chikorita screamed in distress. "Come back!" She summoned rocks from the ground, striking Demon Lugia with their power, but Demon Lugia would not be deterred. He bore down on Pikachu with a darkened Hydro Pump, but then Latias reached in and grabbed Pikachu.

_Take this!_ Latias thought, and she electrocuted Pikachu with Charge Beam, increasing her power more and more as she did so. _Pikachu has a rare ability which allows him to regain energy by taking electric shocks! I'll help him recover with this!_ Soon, Pikachu's body was clear of energy. _Are you feeling better now?_ Latias thought. Pikachu nodded, a bit fazed from his own attack. _Stay here,_ Latias thought, placing Pikachu on top of the Battle Factory. _I will deal with him! In the meantime, charge up your power!_

"What? No! Latias, you can't just go battle him on your own!" Pikachu shouted. "Latias!" But now the Eon Pokémon was too far away to hear him over the roaring wind.

For Latias, all that mattered now was stopping the storm. It didn't matter how she did it; if innocent lives were at stake, she had to stop it. _I'll have to deal him a decisive blow…_ She turned invisible before Demon Lugia could bring his now metallic wing down on her, then used her psychic power to find a weak point. _There!_ she thought, and launched a powerful indigo meteor at that point. Demon Lugia roared as it struck him, and Latias continued blasting meteors, fully aware her power was decreasing. _Come on, please be enough to hurt him…_ she thought. It was at that point she realized her fatal error.

"She's staying in one place," Daikenki noted. "That will make him notice where she is! Latias, MOVE!" But as soon as the words left his mouth, it was too late. Demon Lugia launched a powerful lightning bolt which struck Latias head on, sending her careening out of the sky. "Frick! Someone do something!" Daikenki shouted.

_Leave it to me, then!_ Lucario replied, bounding off the side of the Battle Tower. He sank his claws into the side, skidding down, then jumped onto the Battle Hall's roof and jumped into the air, catching the Eon Pokémon. Demon Lugia attempted to attack once more, but Lucario used Quick Guard to create a red barrier and stop the attack. _Take THIS!_ Lucario thought, charging as much aura as possible around his hands. _AURA STORM!_ And with that, a beam of aura shot from his hands that was extremely wide, smashing Demon Lugia back into the clouds. Lucario jumped after Demon Lugia, preparing a bone in his hands. _This won't work against Lugia, but I can block his attacks._

Latias groaned and struggled to get up, emitting a pink Heal Pulse to recover, and actually using Recover. In one hit, Latias' strength had been reduced greatly. Chikorita used vines to descend safely. "Oh no, Latias! I'll heal you right away…" Her vines began to extend and embrace Latias, but the Eon Pokémon pushed them away. "L-Latias?"

_Don't waste your energy,_ Latias thought to her._ I'll be fine._ She turned back to Demon Lugia, tucking her hands into her sides again. _This time, I'll get him!_ She flew at Lugia as fast as she could, surpassing even Lucario, who was baffled by this turn of events. Latias turned invisible, then got in close and reappeared, her claws shining with ghostly energy. She raked Lugia's face with her claws, causing him to howl in pain. _Got him!_ Latias thought. She decided, though, she couldn't stop attacking, and spiraled around him several times before slashing him with her claws from an unseen angle. Then she prepared a Draco Meteor and blasted him point blank with it.

Demon Lugia roared; he had had enough. Suddenly, he launched a Blizzard of dark snow in the vague direction of where Latias had struck him. Latias met the snow with a Light Screen, but then she realized where she had gone wrong again; now Demon Lugia could see her. And Demon Lugia soared forward, glowing with a white aura, before smashing Latias the entire length of the Battle Frontier. Latias attempted to use Heal Pulse to recover, but Lugia struck again with a Blizzard, freezing Latias. He struck again and again and again. Latias screamed in agony with each blow, but was powerless to stop him.

Axel turned, horrified. "Wha-Latias? LATIAS!" he shouted, and he himself took off, flying in the direction of the Eon Pokémon. Demon Lugia roared and stomped Latias into the ground, in the process collapsing the magnificent Battle Castle on top of the walkway. Many people ran away, screaming in fear as the castle's majestic turrets crashed down on them. Axel couldn't bear it. Now people were _dying_ across the Battle Frontier. He had to stop it. With quick moves, he darted past the blasts of air Lugia sent at him.

Behind him, Gaea stared. She should've been attacking Ninetales and Daikenki, who were still standing on the Battle Tower, but she was paralyzed. It was slowly sinking in that _she_ had unleashed this terror across the Battle Frontier, and innocent lives were being lost by her own hands. "What…have I done…?" she whispered. "Demon Lugia, stop! Stop this killing! Please!" she cried.

But now the Demon would no longer listen to her voice. He picked up the Eon Pokémon and threw her once again, smashing Axel in the process and sending them both spiraling into the Arcade, destroying the machines. Then he saw Chikorita and Lucario standing on the ground, blasting them both with his mighty Shadow Whirlwinds. He struck continuously, preventing them from being able to do anything. And when he heard Gaea telling him to stop, he merely blasted in _her_ direction as well, destroying the Battle Tower and sending rubble hurtling to the ground.

"Oh, crap! This is NOT good!" Daikenki shouted. He blasted Hydro Cannon at the ground, but a rock smashed him on the head, stunning him. "Urgh…"

Ninetales swiftly bounded through the rubble, jumping between the pieces of falling rubble. "I am _not_ planning on dying today," she growled grimly. A snapped girder began to drop on Ninetales, but she slashed it with her claws, allowing both halves to fall away. She then unleashed a Fire Blast, knocking a piece of concrete away.

Daikenki turned upward and slashed apart any rubble that threatened to fall on them. "I'll stop anything that'll crush us from above!" he shouted. "Keep fighting Demon Lugia!" At this moment, he launched an X-Scissor which left the rubble to fly to either side of him. With his swords and head blade, he slashed with Razor Shell to dice them into even smaller fragments so they couldn't hurt Ninetales much.

"Thanks for diverting the rubble; it makes my life SO much easier," Ninetales called. Then she whirled around. "And now I can focus on YOU!" She charged fiery winds and launched them at Demon Lugia. But the Diving Pokémon flapped his wings, causing them to fly in the _other_ direction, straight back at Ninetales and Daikenki. Ninetales growled and reabsorbed them into a Solar Wind Destroyer, sending it flying at Demon Lugia. The flames exploded against him and burst into an inferno, but Demon Lugia emerged virtually unscathed…again. "Urgh…" Ninetales was frustrated. If Solar Wind Destroyer didn't work, what did?

She didn't have time to think about it, because at that moment, Demon Lugia sent a blast of black water flying at them. It crashed into Ninetales and slammed her into the Battle Tower's side, shattering the windows, and splitting the entire structure with the pressure. Ninetales went flying into the 34th floor and rolled about 5 meters. She groaned and attempted to rise, but was immediately treated to Demon Lugia's glaring eye through the window. Quickly checking to make sure there was no one on that floor, Ninetales stood up tall and howled, ready to battle again.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~" Daikenki shouted as he fell, slashing Demon Lugia on the way down. The Diving Pokémon roared, then whirled around and blasted Daikenki with a mighty lightning bolt. "ARGH!" Daikenki roared, slamming into the ground. Then Demon Lugia soared into the air, before glowering down at Daikenki and firing wave after wave of shadow energy at him. "Urgh…" Daikenki struggled up and fired Hydro Cannon, but immediately it was swirled in front of Demon Lugia, who whirled and blasted it into the side of the Battle Tower, ripping through the walls. More rubble fell at once. Daikenki attempted to slash through it all, but then Demon Lugia took advantage of this by smashing his foot down on him, causing the earth itself to shake. Daikenki had to face it: it was over.

Ninetales let out a howl and jumped out of the 34th floor at Demon Lugia's head. Many flames blazed around her body, and she slammed into Demon Lugia as hard as she could before charging up and firing Solar Wind Destroyer. However, Demon Lugia was prepared and took the full brunt of the attack. He then charged up one more demonic whirlwind and shot it directly through the window, shattering the walls.

Ninetales watched the roof collapse on her. "Well, I guess this is the end," she sighed. "But if I'll die, I'll die MY WAY!" And she jumped out of the Battle Tower towards her doom.

* * *

"Urgh…" Axel groaned, struggling to a sitting position. Then he saw Latias lying on the ground. "L-Latias! Are you alright?" he gasped, running to her side, ignoring the bruises he had now. Latias looked awful. There were many gashes across her side, and her wings were awkwardly bent. She was burnt and frozen in various places. "Oh, no, no, no, please don't let this be for real…" Axel moaned.

_It can't be helped,_ Latias replied, struggling to keep conscious. _Axel, we aren't immortal. You should know that. Time immortality can only keep us going for so long. You've lost friends over the years; this shouldn't hurt you too much._ Noticing the tears gathering in Axel's eyes, she smiled sadly. _After all, one death isn't enough reason to stop defending this region, is it?_

"This is different," Axel sobbed, hugging her fiercely. "Latias, you've been with me for about my entire life. It makes a difference if one of my closest friends dies." _Please, let her have enough energy for Recovery…please, please…_

_I don't think I'll be able to make it,_ Latias told him flat out, which made Axel's tears become more in number. _Don't worry, Axel. It'll be alright. You've been able to keep alive for a long time._

"It won't be the same without you," Axel finally said, letting Latias rest on the ground. "Rest in peace, my friend. Goodbye…" Latias smiled one more time…then closed her eyes. And they remained shut. Axel staggered away from Latias' body, unable to cope. Noticing he was in the Battle Arcade, he tried looking around to see if there was anyone who needed help. There was no one. Everyone was dead.

"How did this happen?" Axel wondered, shaking. "I'm powerless to stop this…Why did this have to happen? WHY?" He collapsed, burying his face in his hands. "I should be able to protect the lives of anyone that enters this place! After all, I'm the Orig…" His voice trailed off. None of that mattered now. The sense of powerlessness hung over him, and he had no strength to continue. Far away, Demon Lugia roared, destroying more and more of the Frontier. And now one of the most powerful beings of all time was unable to do a thing.

Presently, Gaea entered the Arcade. Axel looked up a bit warily, his _Bankai_ still active. Gaea didn't raise a finger, but then Axel noticed she was carrying Daikenki, Lucario, Chikorita and Ninetales in her arms. None of them were moving. Gaea sighed, laying them on the ground next to Latias. "Demon Lugia destroyed the Battle Tower, and Ninetales and Daikenki were attacked in the middle of their descent. I later found Chikorita and Lucario lying in the wreckage." Her eyes began to tear up. "I'm really sorry, Nightblazer. I-I-I had no idea I would cause something so terrible to happen…I thought Lugia would be easier to control."

Axel was completely silent. Then he finally rested a hand on her shoulder. And for a long moment, two people on opposing sides of a conflict sat in silence, in the perfect unity created by despair.

Finally, Axel stood up. "I have to keep fighting against Demon Lugia," he sighed. "That's the least I can do now to honor their deaths." He flew away through the gale. Gaea made no motion to stop him. Demon Lugia immediately turned around and launched a lightning bolt at him. Axel went into a short dive to avoid it, then slashed him with his swords. Demon Lugia roared in pain, but Axel saw no visible slash. He brought his swords down again, but this time, Lugia batted him away with his wing, sending him falling into the rubble. Axel flew back up with literally no emotion in his eyes, but rather a cold emptiness.

The two clashed again and again. Axel launched _Ketatamashi Getsu_ with no regrets at all, but Demon Lugia merely flew out of the way. Then a whirlwind caught Axel, slamming him into the Battle Tower…or rather what was left of it. Then, from out of nowhere, a crackling bolt of lightning struck Demon Lugia, causing him to fall back. Pikachu jumped from the Battle Factory's roof and surrounded himself with electricity, crashing into the Diving Pokémon and unleashing so much lightning Pikachu fell back from the recoil. But the Mouse Pokémon barely felt it and just kept attacking. He brought his fist against Demon Lugia, smashing him away with fire, ice, and lightning combined into one.

Demon Lugia didn't even seem to be affected and just launched a feather from his wing which smashed Pikachu into the ground. Then Lugia rose up and began to fire blasts of shadow from his mouth. However, Axel swooped down and snatched Pikachu before flying back upwards again, letting the blast demolish the remainder of the Battle Hall. Then Axel and Pikachu split up, getting ready to attack from two different angles. Both were fighting as if there was nothing to lose.

Axel raised his wings and flapped them several times, sending feathers flying at Demon Lugia. However, Demon Lugia just raised his wing and repelled the feathers, before swinging it back and creating a whirlwind which caught Axel. Unable to use his wings properly inside, Axel was tossed around by the wind and smashed into the collapsing Battle Tower. However, Axel quickly flew back and raised his swords, gathering silver energy along their lengths, then slashing and launching two waves of the energy at Demon Lugia. But the Diving Pokémon ignored it and flew at him, smashing him away with a headbutt. Axel sailed through the air, his headphones flying from his head.

Pikachu landed on Demon Lugia's back and began to unleash all the volts he could, clinging onto his dorsal fins in order to stay on. But it was to no avail; Demon Lugia struck that area, ironically with a blast of shadowy lightning, which Pikachu couldn't absorb. Pikachu stumbled and fell off his back. Axel flew to grab Pikachu again, but Demon Lugia's foot flew up and sent Axel spinning off course. Pikachu grabbed onto Lugia's tail, but that gathered shadow energy and slammed upward, sending the Mouse Pokémon flying into the air.

Demon Lugia grabbed both Axel and Pikachu in his wings and threw them against the Battle Tower, causing its remains to collapse on the two. And Demon Lugia raised his head, gathering all the shadowy gales he could, and blasted it at the ruins, destroying them entirely. When the rubble didn't stir, Demon Lugia was satisfied. He turned away from the ruins, unconcerned about the fate of the ones he just crushed.

Behind him, a pair of silver-blue headphones clattered to the ground.

* * *

"Holy crap!" Ben shouted. "What happened to the Battle Frontier? What's with this weather? And more importantly…Why the heck is that weird Lugia Axel battled in the Lab here?"

"Oh, that's a Lugia?" Silver asked. "It doesn't really look like one. Seriously, since when are Lugias red and black? And more importantly, what happened to the wings?" (At this moment, Demon Lugia was shooting feathers, which now they noticed were rather jagged compared to how they should've been.)

"Considering it attacked Axel, it probably is ev-" Ben began.

"It's evil because it looks evil!" Sam interrupted. "ATTACK!" He charged in (like an idiot). Kotone and Silver muttered something vile about Sam before running after him.

_Axel works at the Battle Frontier…I wonder if he's alright? Better find out! _"I'll help to-" Ben began, beginning to run after Sam.

"What can _you_ do?" Sam asked, whirling around. This made Ben pull up short. "Seriously, you're just a normal human, Ben. You won't be of any help here."

Ben was completely stunned by this. "I can't…help?" he repeated. Both Kotone and Silver stopped short at this as well. Both gave Ben a look that told him to stay back, but neither one seemed to agree much with Sam.

"We'll go in with all our strength," Silver declared. "I don't think you'd survive, Ben. Sorry." Then he held up his Pokedex Ultra, and then the Pokedex showed an image of a Pokemon. Silver pulled the Pokedex back and held out his hand, and an orange ball appeared in his hand. Silver pulled his hands back and then brought them and the Pokedex Ultra and the energy together. _"Come forth, my friend!"_ he yelled. _"Fire Elemental Ressurection!"_ Silver pulled the Pokedex Ultra and the ball of energy away from each other. Enormous amounts of flame poured forth, engulfing the teenager in their fiery depths.

The flames danced back and forth, then twirled into a tornado-like twister, then whirled away, revealing a firey humanoid with flames emanating from his wrists. He had a "crown" on his head shaped to look like the rays of sun from a sunrise: a vertical spike jutted somewhat backwards, and four others also angled backwards, but were slanted more horizontal as they got closer to the bottom. A mask covered his mouth and nose; only his eyes were visible. Instead of hair, he had flames on the back of his head, like an Infernape. Well, not _really _like an Infernape...anyway, he had a chest plate with an eight-rayed sun on it, and a cape with the sun on it, and the kanji for fire in the circle. Embers drifted off of it. He had red gems set in the backs of his hands, and the gauntlet itself had a comet-like marking on it; nine streaks drifted backwards off the gem, the ones more to the sides shorter and slightly more facing backwards, while the ones more towards the center were longer and more backwards. He had legs somewhat like Wargreymon's, but with smaller feet, and his entire legs were encased in armor. Actually, he had Wargreymon's entire lower half.

"RRRAAAHHHHH!" Silver roared, flying down. He slammed down in an enormous explosion of fire and lava, and released tons of fire from his wrists before discharging it into the ground in the form of twin fireballs, blowing up the area they struck. "_Volcano Fury_ Pyrelios!" he declared.

Kotone's Pokédex showed a fearsome Pokémon and then zoomed in on a part of that Pokémon. Kotone pulled it back and whirled around, bringing her other hand up. A green sphere flared to life in it. She spread her arms out and then thrust the sphere and the Pokédex together. _"Come forth, my friend!"_ she shouted. _"Grass Elemental Resurrection!"_

Pulling the Dex away from the sphere, she unleashed a storm of petals around her blown about by the wind. Her form glowed green and became surrounded by petals and leaves, sucked around her by a whirling vortex of energy. Then the vortex dissolved from the right hand onward, revealing a young lady with rose-red hair. Her eyes were grass green, and an armor plate resembling three leaves placed together rested on her forehead, doubling almost like a tiara. Long leaves extended from her wrists, and she was wearing a leaf skirt, composed of around 8 large leaves hanging from her waist. Yes, they went down to just above her knees. And no, for those perverts out there wondering, you couldn't have gotten a look at her...undergarments, because she was also in a sort of full armor. It was a steely substance, but colored exactly like leaves. Her torso was encased in a scale-armor of leaves, her shins were guarded by steely plates with leaf-like kneecaps. She held a glossy shield on her left arm, with the emblem of a rose on it, and wielded not a sword but a wooden staff in her right hand. She looked distinctly human, but make no mistake, for looking like a human is far from being one.

She jumped down, shouting as she whirled her staff. She lightly on the ground and slammed her staff into the ground, whirling about a storm of leaves. She held up her shield, and an Energy Ball charged in front of it and blasted forth, exploding somewhere. "Arboreon _Magna_!"

"Holy crap, are those Elementals?" Ben asked. "They're awesome!"

"But they're not as good as mine! 'Cause unlike them, I've got a Champion form!" Sam retorted (everyone glared at him), holding up his Pokédex Ultra. An image of a powerful being flared to life, howling at the moon. However, its head was that of a wolf, while it stood on two legs and had a humanoid body structure, sword raised to penetrate any who dared challenge it. It's form wavered and dissolved into the kanji for ice, which was blazed straight onto Sam's Pokédex Ultra. Sam pulled it back, and then whirled his other hand up, which now had a sphere of barely controlled pale blue energy blazing in it, threatening to spiral out of control, only able to be tamed by a true master. Sam extended both hands outwards, and then swung them around, slamming the two together in an epic way.

_"Come forth, my friend!"_ he shouted. _"Champion Ice Elemental Resurrection!"_ He pulled the two apart, enveloping himself in an intense blizzard, with a faint pink and green aurora blazing through the ice. The blizzard blasted across Sam's skin, drifting away in the wind to reveal pale silver fur, and icy blue streaks ran across his legs perpendicular to them, as well as across his back and face. Then the aurora glinted majestically and the ice clumped together to create two crossed elaborate sabers with guards shaped like elegant snowflakes and pale blue _tsuba_. The aurora flashed brightly, and the snow subsided to reveal a silvery-white headcrest bearing resemblance to part of a snowflake placed on top of his head, and irises glowing a pale blue against his white sclera and fur.

The wolf let out a savage cry and leapt down to land on a platform with the kanji for _ice_ emblazoned on it. He howled, raising his two swords of ice, and then began to slash the air with them, chilling it even further, and then leapt up before bringing the swords down to the ground, freezing the world around him. "_Sub Zero Fighter_ Arcticryo!"

Articryo, Pyrelios, and Arboreon charged as one towards the Demon. "I've got an idea as to how to defeat it!" Articryo declared. "I'll freeze it in a glacier by dropping the temperature! Just leave it to me!" He began to blast away at the water that Demon Lugia created, freezing it solid. Demon Lugia roared in surprise as a flower of ice appeared in front of him, and even more so when the ice began to spread. He tried to break free, but then Articryo unleashed Sub-Zero Cannon and froze his wing.

"I guess we'll just go along with his plan," Pyrelios sighed, and he began to suck all the heat out of the area around Demon Lugia. The ice began to spread at a more rapid rate. Demon Lugia roared and called down a bolt of shadowy lightning, shattering much of the ice. But when he tried to call down another lightning bolt, a tree grew in about 10 seconds, catching the lightning bolt and taking the blow. However, not a single crack appeared.

Arboreon held up her hand, and some of the black clouds faded away into purple, and then into a pure white. Then instead of flashing (dark) light, ice and snow poured from the white clouds, covering Demon Lugia in snow. "I can't change the weather all the way!" Arboreon called. "But I can lessen the amount of whatever weird clouds there are!" The Demon roared and attempted to break out of the ice, but Arboreon, her hair turning white and her staff obtaining a wreath of pine, raised her staff and fired several beams which froze over, freezing Demon Lugia in place.

Articryo continued to lower the temperature, Arboreon continued to bring hail down, and Pyrelios pulled in more and more heat. Demon Lugia whipped up a ripping gale, but it was to no avail. Eventually, the Diving Pokémon was encased in ice. "Yes! We won! All because of a plan created by the Real Hero I am!" Articryo crowed, turning back into Sam.

Silver and Kotone reverted back to their human forms as well. "That was kind of easy," Silver commented. "I guess that wasn't such a bad plan after all."

_Crack._

All three froze when a large crack split down the center of the glacier, exposing a blood red eye. More cracks spread from the central fissure, and then the titanic ice sheet exploded into a rain of ice shards that flew in all directions at terminal velocity. Wasting no time, Silver unleashed his Resurrection in the span of one second and encased the lot of them in a protective sphere of fire. At the same instant, Kotone released her own power and wrapped them in an internal sphere of vines and tree trunks. The ice shards were barely stopped by the joint defense before Demon Lugia plowed it down itself with a fury so massive that it leaked into Demon Lugia's reiatsu and began searing into the air itself.

Sam was stunned. "What the-?"

"Tch. There was no easy way to do this, then," Pyrelios muttered, his flames wrapping around himself and regenerating his injuries.

"I agree," Arboreon conceded, the plant matter that composed her form rapidly regrowing to leave her mobility unimpaired by injury.

Sam gaped. "How did that not work? It should have! There was no way it could have failed!"

"'The best laid plans of mice and men,'" Arboreon sighed with slight annoyance. "There's no helping it, then, is there Silver?"

Pyrelios shook his head. "Nope. Full strength it is, then." Both glowed brightly with their _reiatsu_ for a second, and they reverted back to human form. Then, they raised their hands and released spheres of glowing light seemingly more wild and uncontrollable than Sam had ever seen, even in his own Champion form.

"_Come forth my friend!_" they chanted in unison. "_Champion Dragon/Grass _(respectively)_ Elemental Resurrection!_" But the remainder of the fight will have to wait for another chapter…

* * *

While the fight raged on, Ben walked through the Battle Frontier's ruins. "It's all been leveled," he muttered. "Was it the work of that Lugia?" Suddenly, he noticed a clearing in the rubble. And Gaea was standing in it, a square stone in front of her. _Oh crap! It's that Cipher Admin Aeron fought! I'll stop her!_ Ben slid down the rubble and ran towards her. "Hey! Cipher Admin!"

He would've kept charging, except Gaea turned with an expression that made it look as if she was about to die and completely accepted it. "Oh…you're Nightblazer's friend, aren't you?"

Ben faltered for a moment; what kind of an expression was that? "Um…yeah, I am." _Wait, what am I doing? I shouldn't be letting my guard down around a Cipher Admin!_ "Hey! Did you cause this?"

"I did," Gaea replied. She sighed and watched Demon Lugia continue to rage. "But I'm leaving. I hope you can stop him."

"You WHAT?" Ben almost screamed. "Why would a Cipher Admin want their operations to be stopped?"

Gaea turned to him, and Ben suddenly realized she had been crying. "I didn't want the destruction he caused. I only intended to defeat Nightblazer. But instead…" She began to sob and ran away. Ben considered following her, but decided against it. Then he turned to the stone she had been looking at and gasped.

**In Memory of the ones who died on February 20, 2012**

Scanning quickly over the stone, Ben realized that this stone had engraved on it the names of everyone who had been at the Battle Frontier on that day and died. It even had the names of the Frontier Brains! But then he saw the final name on the stone, and his heart nearly stopped.

**Axel Nightblazer**

"A-Axel's _dead_?" Ben whispered. "No…NO! That can't be!" He ran out of the clearing, looking around. "Axel! AXEL!" But then he spied something blue and ran over to it. When he picked it up, he immediately despaired.

It was Axel Nightblazer's headphones.

* * *

**This chapter was my brutal way of communicating that Axel isn't invincible. I felt the only way I could do that was by a crushing defeat, and then just to please that guy who keeps making **_**Zanpaku-to**_**, I decided to have Sam defeat whatever defeated Axel to show that Sam is superior, since that guy really l****i****ke****s**** Sam. (Aeron, though, requested that I make Demon Lugia's defeat only temporary.)**

**This perfectly symbolizes my **_**Zanpaku-to**_** compared to his: like the moon in the presence of the sun, **_**Shiruba-Getsu**_** cannot glimmer over the sky as brightly. And in the face of darkness, the sun will illuminate just about all darkness. Even the full moon will not shine as brightly as the sun, and in fact needs the sun to cast its light. In both real life and with our **_**Zanpaku-to,**_** the relation between sun and moon largely favors the sun.**

_**A Tale of Shining Stars**_** will continue, but it'll come out at a slower rate (although it hardly matters to most of you, considering **_**A Tale of Shining Stars**_** is my least popular story) until I can regain confidence in my writing. I'll be focusing vastly more on **_**Shadows of the Demon**_** for now. We're racing towards the end of this story, you know. Whether the ending is happy or grim, we'll just have to wait and see.**


	34. Four Streaming Stars, One Eclipsed Moon

**If you found the previous chapter too much to handle, don't worry. This one won't carry as much darkness as the past one did.**

**Argh...I'm sort of getting sick of writing these things at the beginning/end of chapters, so don't expect me to for the next chapter. :3**

* * *

"Axel! Axel!" Ben shouted, prying through the rubble. He refused to believe that Axel had died, but any hopes he had were nearly dashed by how futile his search was. Seeing Axel's battered headphones on the ground had made Ben dizzy with fear. But now he was violently ramming against it, trying to find his friend in the area around the Battle Tower.

Ben lifted a particularly large stone…and was surprised to find Pikachu lying there, unconscious. But he couldn't move the stone, so he raised his three swords. "_Oni Giri!_" With three swift slashes, the stone was in pieces. "Pikach-HOLY S*bleep*!" Ben cried when he picked up Pikachu. Pikachu had gone through so much injury that his fur didn't look as bright yellow as before. "I'll give him a Full Restore!" Ben decided, and he raised a bottle to Pikachu's mouth. Soon, most of Pikachu's injuries faded. But not all of them. "What? Why didn't the Full Restore work?" Ben wondered.

"A Full Restore won't work on fatal injuries." Ben sharply turned at the voice, and was immediately greeted by the sight of Axel sitting up in the rubble. Axel's injuries were just as bad as Pikachu's were. Beside Axel lay _Shiruba-Getsu_, in its sealed state. But Axel's face was completely devoid of any happiness. "Ben, why are you here?"

"Sam and these two people we met in Eterna called Silver and Kotone-" Axel looked slightly surprised when he heard Silver and Kotone's names. "-heard that the Battle Frontier was having some crazy weather. So we came to see if you were alright." It was now that Ben began to feel little bothered by the fact that Axel seemed emotionless. "Uh…Axel? Is something wrong? You're not usually like this." But what Ben heard next made him wish he hadn't asked.

Axel turned away and spoke in a quiet tone which frightened Ben greatly. "Everything is wrong," he replied. "Thousands of people have died here because of that thing…" He pointed in the direction of Demon Lugia, who was still rampaging. "I wasn't able to stop Demon Lugia from taking the lives of everyone who merely came to have fun at the Battle Frontier, and the Pokémon which called the Frontier their home. Even my own Pokémon, save Pikachu if he's lucky, are all dead. But the worst part is…" He wheeled around to look at Ben straight in the eyes. "That terror was unleashed because of _me_. So I'm the one truly responsible for what's gone on here."

"That's not true!" Ben argued. "It was because Cipher made that thing and forgot to make it unable to go berserk! Axel, that thing's superpowered! There's no way not being able to defeat it means you're worthless!"

"But I'm more of a burden to the people around me," Axel spat bitterly. "If innocent people are going to get killed just because I'm sitting in the same city as them…I'd rather take on Cipher alone."

Ben would have started protesting, but he was interrupted by the most bizarre sight he had ever seen. Axel was suddenly shrouded in darkness, and when it cleared, his body was devoid of any injury. Then he raised _Shiruba-Getsu _, and black darkness poured from the blade, covering him. when it cleared, Axel was in his Bankai…but something was wrong. Instead of the shining silver wings, they were now a pitch black, refusing to glimmer. The blades, too, were dull and did not gleam. "I'll be fighting on my own from here on out," Axel said. "Ben, if you don't want to get hurt in my place, then don't follow." His black wings flapped as he soared into the air and away from the Frontier's ruins.

Ben was so stunned by the events that had just transpired, it almost didn't register in his mind that cradled in his arms was a Pokémon that was about to die. Suddenly Pikachu groaned, and Ben remembered. "I've…gotta do something about Pikachu…" he muttered. At first, he turned to the roaring Demon Lugia, but then thought, _I can't do anything against that thing; my Pokémon and I can't hurt something that beat Axel this badly. Urgh…why do I have to be so pathetic?_ Deciding the best course of action would be to immediately get medical attention to Pikachu, Ben jumped onto his Motorcycle, Pikachu in his arms, and drove to the Battleground at top speed.

All the thoughts he had were ones which bitterly cursed his weakness.

* * *

_Now, where we left off with the people battling Demon Lugia…_

A shining indigo image appeared on the screen of Silver's Pokédex Ultra. Silver pulled the Pokédex back, then generated a sphere of indigo energy that crackled violently outward. Then he whipped them into the air and brought them together. _"Come Forth, my friend!"_ he shouted. _"Champion Dragon Elemental __Resurrection!"_ And with that, a great storm of dragonic fire twisted around him.

The fire whirled around into a long tail, whose crystalline spear-tipped end whipped around and sent the indigo sparks flying around wildly. Five talons curled into a fist burning with pure fury, ready to slice through anything they met. Dancing away from the arm connected to those talons, the flames revealed a powerful muscled dark purple arm with lines of shining lavender lighting the flaming air with brilliance, tracing up the armor-like plates and connecting with a diamond shaped red gem in the forearm towards the elbow, then stretching up and arcing around the arm to connect with a larger gem capping the shoulder. An indigo arrow-shaped head with a double pair of horn-like protrusions pointing forward from either side sheared through the air, threatening to pierce whatever got in its way. Lines running from the arrow-shaped gem on its forehead ran down to the tip of each horn, blazing with the brilliance of a great lavender sun and equally uncontrollable, as the lines stretched to the razor-sharp outside edges of the horns in various places. From every gap in the scales and natural armor plates that covered the dragons body and each crystalline vermillion spike that protruded from various intervals along its spine shone this brilliant light, evidence of the raw power of the individual within. 8 great shining webbed wings slashed apart the inferno, spreading wide as if it was their intent to soar on nothing but resolved hope.

The dragon let out a roar as it spiraled out of the inferno and towards an indigo circle that had the _kanji_ for "dragon" on it, wheeling through the air for a long time before flying at the ground and scraping his claws against it, bringing up a massive inferno. _"Take flight, Rising Star Drakanohi!"_

A shining green image appeared on the screen of Kotone's Pokédex Ultra. Kotone pulled it back and whirled around, bringing her other hand up, allowing a green sphere almost at exploding point to flare to life in it. She spread her arms out and then thrust the sphere and the Pokédex together. _"Come forth, my friend!"_ she shouted. _"Champion Grass Elemental Resurrection!"_ The winds carried a storm of leaves, allowing Kotone to disappear into them.

An arm pushed its way through the vortex and _grew_ a wooden bow in its armored hand, intricate carvings running along bow and leaf-green armor alike. A second hand twirled a staff out of the vortex, each end tipped in a deathly spearpoint. Then a _third_ hand grew a shield and batted away the rest as a fourth waved through the air, leaving a vast row of wooden arrows in its wake which settled in a wooden quiver, as intricately carved as the armored shoulder that carried it. Rose red hair flew in the wind, covered at the forehead by a five-leaf piece that doubled as a tiara, the centermost leaf a brilliant red and the middle-left and middle-right leaves a blazing gold. Leaves extended from each wrist, forming bracelet-like tufts in addition to a single long blade flaring backwards to double as a convenient leaf blade, and a short leaf skirt covered the young four-armed woman's lower half, though perverts who tried to sneak a peek would have been sorely disappointed (refer to chapter 32 as to why). A rose emblem surrounded by a circle of ivy carved itself into the shield before coloring in with red.

The young woman dove downward, spinning her staff and loading her bow as she landed upon the green kanji for _grass _before shooting a barrage of arrows into the distance and slamming the end of her staff into the ground. "_Bloom eternal, Arboreon Ultimum!"_

"…NO. FRICKIN'. WAY." Sam finally was able to say after a long silence. (I guess he didn't think they were real heroes XP)

"Now we'll show him!" Drakanohi shouted, flying at Demon Lugia. The Elemental tried to pound his claws into the Diving Pokémon, but Drakanohi realized quickly that the attack stopped _just in front of_ him. "Wait, what?" Demon Lugia took advantage of him letting his guard down and unleashed a blizzard on him, causing Drakanohi to howl in pain.

Arboreon quickly brought her hand up to load 5 arrows AT ONCE into her bow and shoot them at Demon Lugia. The leaves flashed with the fleeting sunlight in the storm of darkness before bursting into green light, but again, the arrows shattered not even a millimeter away from Demon Lugia's body. "Impossible!" Arboreon gasped, then quickly realized what was about to happen and raised her shield, getting smashed away by Demon Lugia's dark Blizzard.

Drakanohi burst into purple and vermillion flames, folding his wings back for greater aerodynamics and rocketed straight into Demon Lugia's side before suddenly blazing backwards and spiraling in a loop-de-loop over the nightmarish legendary to attack from the other side in the blink of an eye, pulling back his right fist and giving him the worst _face-palm-of-doom_ that one could ever experience. "Get ahold of yourself, dangit!" he roared, all the while aware that his claws were stopped by an invisible barrier that kept them from touching Demon Lugia, though he could still push the fiend by pushing the barrier itself with brute force.

With a roar, Demon Lugia pulled back out of Drakanohi's grip, then unleashed a torrent of dark water, sending Drakanohi crashing into the rolling waves. Then he unleashed his blizzard, freezing the water solid. Drakanohi quickly broke out a second later and let out a howl, slashing with his claws, but the Diving Pokémon flew out of the way and, true to his name, dove under the water, and caused many jets of water to burst up and strike Drakanohi, causing him to howl in pain. The streams of water hadn't ended, however, before Demon Lugia himself burst out of the water, crashing into Drakanohi with shadow energy.

Arboreon winced as Drakanohi hit the ground and caused a massive shockwave, then raised her hand with a furious glint in her eyes. Suddenly, hundreds of trees burst from the ground, growing themselves into natural ballistas! Then Arboreon leveled her staff at Demon Lugia and let out a cry, causing all the ballistas to fire giant wooden spears, although they shattered against the barrier as expected. "Is there any way to get past the barrier?" Arboreon wondered.

Drakanohi growled as he leapt to his feet. "I won't be beaten so easily by something like that!" He raised his hand and called three indigo balls of fire to his hand, as he rushed at Demon Lugia and socked him in the face, sending him soaring the entire length of (what was left of) the Battle Frontier. However, Demon Lugia brought his head to glare at Drakanohi with a killer look, before slashing at Drakanohi with his _own_ claws. Drakanohi screamed as the claws slashed his side, sending him spiraling into the ground again.

Arboreon raised her hand, growing a wooden sphere out of her own body, and then threw it at Demon Lugia. As soon as it impacted the barrier, a massive explosion occured, disrupting the charging energy and causing it to discharge violently, blowing Demon Lugia onto his back. Arboreon leaped into the air and raised her hand, growing numerous wooden arrows shining with green energy. In a move seemingly faster then light itself, she drew her bow, shot 5 arrows at once, and reloaded it to fire again, raining many arrows down on Demon Lugia. You'd think that'd get him, but...it didn't. In fact, Demon Lugia just came out with a Slasher Smile and zapped Arboreon with lightning bolts and the light from the storm.

Before Demon Lugia could take advantage of Arboreon's vulnerability, Drakanohi sprang to his feet and whipped his tail around, clubbing him in the side of the head and sending the Demon falling to earth just like Drakanohi had a few moments ago. Drakanohi then raised his fist and punched again, but Demon Lugia dodged and flapped his wings, catching Drakanohi in a whirlwind. Demon Lugia roared in triumph, and began to charge up another blast of shadow...

Suddenly, before Arboreon and Drakanohi could even believe it, four streaks of light-azure blue, dark crimson, verdant green, and lavender-crashed into Demon Lugia, slamming him backward so hard he left a deep rut in the ground. The dark water crashed to the ground harmlessly. "Whoa, what the heck?" Drakanohi exclaimed.

"What are you doing, you fools?" they heard, and then the streaks of light transformed into HUMANS (or rather human like beings)! All of them were wearing _shikahusho_ the same color as the light they had transformed from, and wore white _haori_. The one who was talking was the one wearing the crimson _shikahusho_ (which had an awesome visual effect which made it look like he was walking fire). He had dark red hair, and his _haori_ had the _kanji_ for "two" on it. A gauntlet with a flame-red armor plate was on his forearm, and a crystalline orange spike on either side of his fist. A spiked red metal knuckle guard protected his hand. "Who said you were supposed to hurl yourself at a Demon? You'll just get yourself killed!"

"Who the heck are these people?" Sam wondered. "They look like Axel wannabes."

Cue a massive fireball shooting Sam in the face. As in, ELEPHANT massive. "WE ARE NOT WANNABES!" the guy with the crimson _shikahusho_ shouted. "I AM SALVO SHIHOIN, 2ND OF THE ORIGIN CAPTAINS, AND I WILL NOT BE MOCKED BY AN UPSTART ELEMENTAL LIKE YOU, BOY!"

Drakanohi, Arboreon, and the other three people that just arrived were covering their ears. "Typical Salvo," Arboreon grumbled. "Always the super large ham of the group…"

"Fine! The other three look like Axel wannabes!" Sam shouted, clearly not having learned his lesson.

"I would advise," Sam suddenly heard behind him, causing him to slowly turn his head to see a young man with dark blue hair bearing a slight resemblance to Ash's hair style, brilliant electrical blue eyes, a _haori_ that said "one" on the back, and a long staff with a glowing blue crystal at the end towering over him, "To not speak to us that way. While I can forgive such rudeness, others of my group cannot, and I cannot guarantee that I will restrain them from lashing out at you. In fact," he added, with a look in his eyes and a cheerful tone of voice that sent shivers down Sam's spine, "I may encourage them to do so."

It was then that Sam suddenly noticed the grass underneath him seeming to rustle menacingly, and the air itself suddenly felt rather…edgy. So now the grass and the air appeared to be very hostile to Sam. "…what the hell is this?" Sam wondered, a bit freaked out.

"But why have you all come?" Drakanohi asked. "It's not like we're that important to you, Ashura."

"The main reason," Salvo replied, as Ashura (the blue haired guy) was already too deep into making a strategy to hear Drakanohi, "is that Demon. We can't let it run rampant, can we?"

"Yeah, but it's not like you go and battle every Demon you sense," Drakanohi argued. "_Something's_ gotta be up for you to go out of your way to come here!"

"And something is up," the person who was the lavender streak of light replied. She was a tall woman with lavender hair down to just above her shoulders, and had clear violet eyes. This was Annabelle Kuchiki, the 6th Origin Captain. "The main reason we came here was because we felt that Axel was fighting that thing…and his _reiatsu_ faded away."

It took a couple moments for that to sink in. "Wait…AXEL lost against that thing?" Arboreon pretty much screamed. "How is that even possible?"

"We can tell that he didn't die," Annabelle continued, "but when we try to find out where he is or what he's thinking, we find just an empty space. So it's like he's dropped completely off the face of the earth."

"So though you know he's alive, you don't know anything else?" Arboreon could hardly believe it. "How would your comrade who you knew for so long drop off the radar like that? It's not like he's Aeric!" (I'll explain who Aeric is in due time.)

"If _Axel_ just disappears, it's troublesome," Annabelle agreed. "But if Axel was unconscious and alive, he wouldn't be hiding his presence. We'd feel a glimmer of his presence. But since he's _totally_ gone, he'd have to be _deliberately_ hiding. That should tell you something's wrong."

"I guess Axel wasn't much of a Real Hero, then," Sam muttered. You can guess what happened to him, so I'll take a five minute break while the carnage occurs.

Salvo dusted off his hands over a charred and smoking crater, with Sam lying at the very bottom. "Well, that was some good practice," he commented in a completely carefree tone. "Now, to business!"

"I was wondering when we'd get to that part," the person who came from the green light said. Her hair was a bright yellow-orange, and her eyes were a bright grass-green. Her _haori _said "four" on the back. She carried a sword with a pale grass-green blade with a guard shaped like five leaves pointing perpendicular, 45 degrees to the left/right, or down the blade depending on their position. A crystal shaped like a rose capped the pommel. "What's our strategy, Ashura?"

Ashura looked up at the looming form of Demon Lugia. "Axel battled that thing, but it doesn't even look like it's been _scratched_. That's a bit worrisome." He pondered for a split second, then: "Salvo, Rosie, I need you two to bombard it while…" His eyes quickly flicked over to Annabelle. "Annabelle, if it wasn't for that barrier which higher demons create around themselves, Axel would've been able to defeat it. Sense for its frequency. Now let's go!"

Salvo and Rosie (aka the lady in the green _shikahusho_) immediately attacked, Salvo launching a great fireball, and Rosie causing giant roots to spring up from the ground and lash around Demon Lugia. Demon Lugia flew out of the way of the fireball, allowing it to erupt into a brilliant inferno, and when the roots attempted to tie him down, Demon Lugia roared and unleashed a whirlwind which slashed apart the roots. Then Demon Lugia flew at the two, launching a stream of dark water.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Salvo shouted in sort of terror, creating an intense wall of flame and causing the water to evaporate inches away from his face. "NO I DON'T WANT A SHOWER THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" And he retaliated with a STORM of fireballs. At first, Demon Lugia tried to avoid them, but they crashed into the ground and caused enormous explosions, engulfing Demon Lugia in flame. Demon Lugia tried to blow away the flame, but then a final fireball flew towards him.

Suddenly, the fireball exploded a couple inches away from Demon Lugia's form. From a couple hundred meters away, Annabelle narrowed her eyes. _So there's the barrier, eh?_ she thought. Sensing further, she noted the frequency of spirit energy in the flames, and its dissonance with that of the barrier's. _That frequency won't work…and I can't directly sense the frequency of spirit energy in the barrier. We'll have to do guess and check._ She immediately used a channel between the four Origin Captains' minds (actually, this channel goes to all Origin Captains) and told them the information.

_I got it,_ Rosie thought back to her, _I'll try a different frequency!_ Cue many, many rose petals whirling in the air around her. Rosie pointed at Demon Lugia, and all the rose petals flew at him, but they glanced off the barrier. Demon Lugia called down a storm of lightning, striking Rosie and managing to stun her.

"Hey, aren't you gonna do something?" Drakanohi asked Ashura as he tried another Draco Meteor in vain. Arboreon was using many Solarbeams with similar results. Ashura gave him a pointed look and refocused on an incantation for a spell neither Drakanohi nor Arboreon had realized he was chanting. Meanwhile, Salvo flew above Demon Lugia and dropped a sphere of fire. Demon Lugia watched it fall, then attempted to whip it away with a wind. Except remember how the winds do slashing damage? Well, that slashed apart the bonds holding the sphere together…

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

"I do _not_ understand how so many people fall for that trick," Salvo muttered as he flew away. Except then he was suddenly aware of a large quantity of dark water falling from the sky. Clearly Demon Lugia wanted revenge. "Oh crud," muttered Salvo, as he got smashed down to earth by the gigantic waterfall.

"Well, that was a fail," muttered Drakanohi, launching another Draco Meteor, attempting to increase the frequency of the meteor (though it wasn't enough). "So, has anyone figured out how we can get past the barrier yet, or are we still doing guess and check?"

"Annabelle, anything yet?" Ashura called. Annabelle shook her head. "We're still doing guess and check," Ashura told Drakanohi, who responded with a grunt.

Rosie raised her sword and slashed at the Demon, but the blade slammed against the barrier. Rosie muttered something in annoyance, and plant matter began to cover the blade. Before long, thorny vines had grown from that matter and were whipping at the barrier, but they were unable to penetrate it. Demon Lugia looked at the vines with almost amusement before blasting a flurry of dark snow from his mouth, freezing the vines in place. Rosie's eyes widened and she jumped back before her _Zanpaku-to_ could be frozen as well. "How did I forget Lugias can know Blizzard?" Rosie muttered to herself.

"GAH!" Salvo spluttered, flying out of the water. "Dude, I told you I didn't want a shower!" He raised his hand and summoned flames to his fist guard, then pointed his fist at Demon Lugia. "_Ya-keru Akaki Furea!_ (Burning Crimson Flare)"His gauntlet flashed, and he launched a crimson beam from it…made of flames O_o The flames halted just in front of Demon Lugia, and the Demon launched a massive blast of shadow which sent Salvo flying backwards. Salvo recovered and continued firing _Ya-keru Akaki Furea_, but Demon Lugia's barrier wouldn't let it pass.

"We _really_ need to try something different," Rosie decided. She held out her hands, and the roots flew up from the ground once more, entangling Demon Lugia. Demon Lugia attempted to slash them to pieces with the wind, but more roots were summoned in their place. "Salvo! Now!" Rosie shouted. Salvo launched the crimson flare again, setting the whole mess of roots ablaze within seconds. Too bad Demon Lugia had a dark water attack which extinguished all the flames within seconds. -_-

But Annabelle noticed something: A noticeable portion of the flame had gotten through the barrier and burned quite a bit of it away, causing Demon Lugia to suffer a large burn. "That's the frequency we need!" she declared, and raised her hands. The air itself seemed to glint lavender, and Annabelle threw her arms in front of her, sending rippling lavender blades which slashed through the barrier with no trouble, slashing Demon Lugia.

"You've found it?" Rosie asked. "Alright then! We'll try that frequency!" She thrust out her hand, and the rose petals flew at Demon Lugia, infused with the same frequency of energy that Annabelle's blades were, slashing Demon Lugia several times. Demon Lugia roared and called down numerous lightning bolts in response to stun the two girls, but they dodged and attacked again. Meanwhile, Salvo unleashed _Ya-keru Akaki Furea_, burning away at the barrier.

"Yes! They've destroyed it!" Drakanohi shouted, unleashing another Draco Meteor…actually, make that a storm of them. Combine Arboreon launching Frenzy Plant at the same time. Demon Lugia went flying from the brunt of the combined attack.

Demon Lugia roared in pain, and Annabelle smiled and threw more blades, believing success was just around the corner. However, the blades crashed a couple inches away from the Diving Pokémon's back, shattering to pieces. "Oh, come on! It changed the frequency on us?" Salvo groaned. Then purple energy coursed over Demon Lugia's body, cleansing it of MOST OF its injuries. "RECOVER? NO FAIR!" Salvo shouted, trying to unleash another fireball bomb, but it failed this time.

"…it's done," Ashura declared, and before Demon Lugia's body could fully recover of energy, he shouted something in an ancient language, causing crackling icy bolts of lightning to fly across Demon Lugia's barrier. Demon Lugia roared, and tried to reconstruct the barrier, but nothing happened. "This should do continuous damage to the barrier-at least enough to make a couple holes in it," Ashura declared, raising his staff and gathering blue energy to the gem at the end. "Attack it now! _Reiki Boufu!_ (Aura Storm)" Ashura unleashed a whirling cyclone of azure blue energy, breaking through the weakening barrier and crashing into Demon Lugia, disrupting the Recover.

Demon Lugia roared as he fell back, then attempted to rise. However, roots flew out of the ground and bound his wings to the ground. The Diving Pokémon ripped through them, but lavender blades slashed him, dealing a critical strike and causing the Demon to roar in pain. Rosie and Salvo unleashed more attacks on the sparking portions which signified the barrier's weakness, causing more damage to it. "Yes! We're beating him!" Arboreon declared, using Power Whip to strike a critical blow.

Except then Demon Lugia let out a primal howl, and his _reiatsu_ slammed down like a hammer. "HOLY CRAP! COULD IT BE GOING INTO REVERSE MODE?" Salvo shouted. Demon Lugia attacked with a blast of shadow, and sent Salvo and Annabelle flying so fast they made a GIGANTIC splash in the ocean.

"Reverse Mode? Oh, god, that's not good," Arboreon groaned. Reverse Mode caused the Shadow Pokémon's emotions to rise to a fever pitch and their strength to increase to ungodly amounts, although their own energy would harm them over time as well. "Any ideas on how to calm it down?"

"Nope," Ashura replied. "So we'll just have to beat it down while it's in Reverse mode!" He raised his staff and pointed it at Demon Lugia, blasting numerous spheres of azure blue energy. They crashed against the Demon, but he barely felt the pain and unleashed a dark blizzard at Ashura, forcing him to jump away. Ashura growled and flew at Demon Lugia, smashing the Diving Pokémon with the jeweled end of his staff, which was shining with a bright azure light. Demon Lugia, however, grabbed Ashura and tossed him to the ground, and got ready to use his shadowy earthquake again.

However, then Rosie raised her sword and vines thrashed Demon Lugia before he could complete his attack. Ashura got back up and unleashed the aura spheres again, but they exploded several inches away from his body. "Its barrier is regenerating?" Rosie groaned, as the icy lightning bolts began to fade. "This is bad, now we'll have to try to find the frequency again…"

"I think I'll have to prepare another spell," Ashura sighed. "Salvo, Annabelle, are you guys alright?"

"Well, that was embarrassing," Annabelle muttered as she and Salvo flew out of the water. "We'll be fine…but if it's in Reverse Mode, we probably can't defeat it."

"Then we _won't_ defeat it," Ashura replied, twirling his staff over his head. "We'll just have to put it out of commission for a while!" He began to chant another spell, and indicated for the Origin Captains to defend him. Drakanohi and Arboreon flew in front as well, ready to help as needed.

Annabelle waved her hand, and an almost transparent lavender energy rippled out from her. Then several rocks flew up and launched themselves at Demon Lugia, although they merely impaled themselves into the barrier. Several blades of air followed, crashing against the barrier relentlessly. The Diving Pokémon roared and unleashed another whirlwind at Annabelle, but the winds glowed lavender and began to spin in the other direction, cancelling the cyclone. Then Annabelle threw her hand out, causing the churning waters to rise above her, before shooting out at Demon Lugia in an intense jet.

The water jet crashed against the barrier, but Annabelle continued the stream more and more, until the barrier began to weaken under the stress. Demon Lugia, sensing the barrier being destroyed, became alarmed and unleashed a dark blizzard, freezing the water solid. However, before the water could completely be frozen, Annabelle cocooned the Demon in the water, which froze over, trapping him! "That will _never_ hold him for long," Annabelle shouted. "Ashura, whatever plan you have, we have to use it quickly!"

"He's still preparing his spell!" Salvo shouted. "So we'll just have to pile on the hurt!" _Some of the water seeped through the barrier. And the ice freezing it just expanded the cracks. So I can punch through it!_ Salvo flew at the place where Annabelle had shot most of the water, drew his fist back, and punched through the ice, shattering it. Demon Lugia roared in surprise and tried to fully repair the barrier, but it was too late. Salvo's fist slammed against him and burst into flames, beginning to burn the Demon.

But Salvo's body began to burn crimson. Demon Lugia stared in wonder before Salvo let out a battle cry and completely burst into crimson fire, unleashing his entire wrath on the Demon, sending him spinning backward. "Gasp…I think I overdid it," Salvo groaned, sagging to the ground, the flames dispelling.

_It's done!_ Annabelle suddenly heard Ashura say to her through telepathy. _But I don't think I can hit him right now while he's rampaging! Do something to make him hold still!_

_I got it,_ Annabelle replied, _I'll finish right away._ She raised her hands, and the ripple pulsed out of her body once more. Suddenly, there was a rumbling, and all the rocks from one area began to fly up above Demon Lugia. The Demon, Drakanohi, and Arboreon all stared in shock, as the Battle Tower reassembled itself from the rubble, hanging directly over the Demon! "Here we go!" Annabelle shouted, bringing her hand down in one swift chop.

The Battle Tower plunged towards Demon Lugia at crazy speeds, crashing through the hole Salvo and Rosie had made in the barrier and crushing the Diving Pokémon with its sheer force, then exploding and covering it in rock. "HIT IT NOW, ASHURA!" Rosie shouted, entangling the whole mess with vines.

Ashura let out a cry in the ancient language, and an azure blue energy flew from his hands at the pile of rock and vines which marked where Demon Lugia was right then. A large circle covered with runes traced itself across the ground, and everything within the circle was encased in an azure blue energy. "It's locked in Space and Time," Ashura declared, lowering his hands. "But Demon Lugia will inevitably break out with his energy. We won't have to worry about him for a while, though."

"So what do we do aside from hope he doesn't come back?" Salvo asked, helping Annabelle walk over to them, who seemed completely exhausted from dropping the Battle Tower on Demon Lugia.

"That Pokémon alone shows that Cipher is still a massive threat…and maybe even more than before," replied Ashura. "We'll have to fight with _all_ our strength. How many of our numbers are in Sinnoh?"

"10," Rosie replied. "That should be enough of us to put a dent in Cipher's plans while the rest appear! But…" All the Origin Captains seemed to suddenly become depressed. "Without Axel, we've lost a large chunk of our strength," Rosie sighed.

When Arboreon and Drakanohi reverted to their human forms with questioning looks, Salvo began to explain. "The Origin Captains have a mental link which connects their minds. But this link also spreads some of our abilities to each other. So if Axel were here, we'd get an immense speed boost."

"And a missing comrade will do the group no good," agreed Silver. "Whatever made Axel go into hiding, I hope he comes out of it soon."

Ashura lifted his head. "I hope so too. He wasn't so much a good fighter as he was a trusted ally and friend." He continued walking, then stopped and turned to the other Origin Captains. "We'll fix up the Battle Frontier as soon as we regain our energy. For now, though, rest up."

"Why would you want to repair Battle Frontier?" Kotone asked. "What good will it do any of you?"

"It's respect to the deceased here," replied Annabelle. "Many innocent lives were taken by Demon Lugia. We should restore it to its former glory for their sake."

"But it won't be the same," Silver replied, shaking his head. "Everyone who was here probably personalized something on the Battle Frontier in some way…"

"We can easily fix that," Annabelle replied. "If you haven't noticed, we have quite a bit of help. All we have to do is ask for it."

In fact, a crowd of spirits surrounded the Origin Captains at this very moment.

* * *

_At the Pokémon Center in the Battleground…_

Ben sat in the waiting room of the Pokémon Center, staring at the table in front of him in a depressed manner. Axel's headphones lay on it, battered and with much of the silver-blue plastic shredded. It seemed completely unrealistic to Ben that after they had destroyed Team Galactic together, their group would be split up like this.

A pan pizza sat on the table in front of it, but Ben wasn't interested in his meal. He was too depressed even to start eating. Whirling in Ben's mind were numerous things he'd heard that day…

"_What can _you_ do?" Sam asked, whirling around. "Seriously, you're just a normal human, Ben. You won't be of any help here."_

"_We'll go in with all our strength," Silver declared. "I don't think you'd survive, Ben. Sorry."_

"_I'll be fighting on my own from here on out," Axel said. "Ben, if you don't want to get hurt in my place, then don't follow." His black wings flapped as he soared into the air and away from the Frontier's ruins._

Ben's fists slammed against the table in frustration. "Isn't there _anything_ I can do to help against Cipher? Oh, sure, Axel's an Aetherean, Sam's an Elemental, and what do I have? Just some fancy swordplay? Why can't I have power to help my friends, too? Why do I have to be the dead weight?"

It was then that the doors opened to the emergency room. Ben looked up sharply to see Nurse Joy wheeling out a bed with Pikachu on it, who was still unconscious. "Is something wrong?" Nurse Joy looked rather surprised by Ben's outburst just now.

Quickly composing himself, Ben shook his head. "No. Nothing's wrong. So anyway, how is he?"

Joy gestured at Pikachu. "He should be alright now. Most of his injuries have been treated. But what happened? I know Cipher's in Sinnoh, and I've had to treat injuries caused by Shadow Pokémon before, but his were the worst I've seen! They don't even look like they were caused by Shadow Pokémon, but rather something even worse. Were you battling…an XD Pokémon?"

Ben silently thought about the XD series Axel had told him about some time ago. "No, it wasn't an XD Pokémon. But it seems to be something even worse…"

Presently, there was a groan, and Pikachu sat up on the bed. "Ow...wait, when did I get on a bed…?"

"Pikachu! You're awake!" shouted Ben with relief. "Hey, can you remember what happened?"

"Huh? Ben? What're you doing here?" Pikachu leaped to his feet. "And where is this?" He looked around, realizing it was a Pokémon Center.

"We're in the Battleground," replied Ben. "I took you here after-"

"Enough talk! We gotta go back to the Frontier!" Pikachu shouted, leaping off the bed. "Axel must still be fighting! And for all we know, the others may be-" Pikachu stopped short. He saw clearly in his mind now: Latias being thrown by Demon Lugia and crashing into Axel, Chikorita and Lucario being decimated by the Diving Pokémon's whirlwinds, Ninetales flying into the Battle Tower and then that floor exploding with shadow energy, rubble falling on Daikenki as the earth shook around him from Demon Lugia's earthquake. It was finally dawning on the Mouse Pokémon.

The remaining members of Axel's part were dead.

Pikachu was so taken aback by this realization, he sank to the floor, paralyzed with shock and denial. "No…" he whispered.

Ben and Pikachu tried to enjoy Ben's pizza, but it wasn't any good with the emotions hanging on their head. Ben had told Pikachu what Axel now intended to do, and Pikachu immediately began to share Ben's belief that they were both dead weight against Cipher. "Well," Pikachu sighed, gobbling up the last piece of the crust, "I guess we can't do anything to help now…"

"Not as we are," Ben agreed, halfheartedly reaching for the last slice. "If only I had power of my own…" He took a bite out of the pizza…and then suddenly had an idea. "Wait, Pikachu, maybe we should train to make ourselves stronger! That way, we can help Axel!"

"Are you sure?" Pikachu asked dejectedly. "I don't think any level of training would help against…" They immediately remembered Demon Lugia, savagely roaring and ripping apart his surroundings. "Besides, how can we get that much stronger so quickly?" Pikachu continued.

"There isn't anything else we can try, is there?" Ben asked, already getting up. "C'mon! Let's go!" They ran out of the Pokémon Center and jumped onto Ben's motorcycle. "Ready? Here we go!" Ben shouted, and they sped off to Stark Mountain. Pikachu and Ben watched the volcano loom ahead, determined to get stronger no matter what might possibly happen for their friend.

* * *

_At Mt. Coronet…_

Three Cipher Peons were standing in the black-purple fog encompassing Mt. Coronet. "So what's the plan, anyway?" asked one. "Why did we go through so much trouble making the Corruption Field?"

"The fog is the same kind released from our Corruption Bombs," replied another. "So we corrupted everything on this mountain, and soon, the fog will drift further down the mountain to all the other cities, corrupting everything else. Meanwhile, we even managed to corrupt the Sanctuary here on Mt. Coronet, so it'll spread it to all the other Sanctuaries, and over time they will be corrupted as well."

"That's a very complicated plan," commented his comrade. "Are we going to have to go to the Sanctuaries to corrupt them faster ourselves, then?"

"Yes," replied the last Cipher Peon. "Meanwhile, Demon Lugia and any other Demon or XD series Pokémon we have will assist in attacking the temples. Their special attacks will help to corrupt the Sanctuaries as well! And there is no being in the world at this time which can stop Demon Lugia! So we've pretty much won. Our plan can't even be stopped by Axel Ni-"

Suddenly, there was a flutter of wind, and the person whose name was about to be said soared up from underneath them. The Corruption Field's tentacles attempted to grab him, but he slashed them away. Much to the Cipher Peons' fright, his eyes made it look like he didn't care for their fate. "Holy crap, it's Nightblazer! Go, Weavile!" shouted a Cipher Peon. Weavile leaped at Axel with dark energy around his claws, but Axel slashed Weavile and knocked him out immediately. "OH MAH GOD!" shouted the Cipher Peon. "Go, Gyarados!" Axel flew at Gyarados with his sword, but Gyarados dodged and blasted Axel with Hyper Beam. Axel emerged with several burns, but his wings had protected him from most of the attack.

"Now we've got him!" crowed the second Cipher Peon. "Go, Solrock and Lunatone! Double Psychic attack!" The two Meteorite Pokémon burst out of their Pokéballs and emitted a shockwave of psychic energy, striking Axel from several different angles. "Solrock, Solarbeam! And Lunatone, Rock Tomb!" ordered the Cipher Peon. Lunatone let out a psychic wave, causing the rocks to rise up and enclose around Axel. Then Solrock blasted the prison of rock with an intense beam of sunlight.

However, Axel busted out, injured but seeming as though he didn't feel it, and slashed at the two Meteorite Pokémon, but they glowed with their Cosmic Power and barely were able to survive the attack. Then Solrock brought numerous rocks crashing down on Axel, and Lunatone unleashed a blizzard, freezing the rocks. Axel busted out immediately and brought his blades down again, defeating the two. Then Axel whirled around to Gyarados and brought his sword up, which was swiftly blocked by Gyarados' coldly shining fangs. Gyarados whipped his tail around with water swirling around it, knocking Axel's feet out from underneath him, and launched a blast of fire which exploded into a five-point cross.

Axel flew out of the flames with still more injuries, but again not seeming to react at all. It was almost as if one could tear his body to pieces and he'd still come after you. His sword went flying at Gyarados, but Gyarados whipped his tail around shining with dragonic energy and slammed Axel's sword with so much force that it would've gone spinning out of his hand and off the mountain, but Axel held on tightly, instead flying off the mountain a shorter distance. However, his black wings flapped and he was quickly propelled into the air above the Atrocious Pokémon.

Gyarados attempted to unleash another Hyper Beam, but numerous black feathers dove from Axel's wings and slammed into Gyarados with a blunt impact, slamming Gyarados into the mountainside. Axel flew forward and slashed Gyarados with _Doki no Shiruba-Getsu's_ blade, defeating and almost killing the Atrocious Pokémon instantly. Axel didn't seem to care anymore whether he killed or not, just as long as his foe stopped moving. When that happened, he turned back to the Cipher Peons, raising his sword.

"AAAAAAAAH! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" shouted a Cipher Peon, getting scared by how an injured teenage boy was advancing at them as if he were in perfect health. "GO, ZANGOOSE AND SEVIPER! CRUSH CLAW AND POISON TAIL!" Zangoose's claws flashed white and began to spark, and he slashed at Axel viciously. Axel sidestepped the attack, but the claws ripped through his wing. The Cat Ferret Pokémon raised his claws and slashed in an X, dealing two swift blows across Axel's chest.

From his other side, Seviper secreted a highly toxic substance around his tail and he brought it down on the Origin Captain. Though the dull colored blade blocked Seviper's tail, the Fang Snake Pokémon's poison splashed across Axel's arm, seeping into his skin. Seviper hissed with laughter and splattered a purple liquid over Axel's arm, doing extra damage from the poison he just injected. Then the Fang Snake Pokémon gathered dark energy at his tail and slashed Axel again, splattering blood across the rocks.

"Had enough yet?" the first Cipher Peon asked, albeit a bit shakily. "But I'll seal your defeat! Go, Exeggutor! Wood Hammer! Barrage! Leaf Storm!" The Coconut Pokémon flew out and bashed its glowing green head (or rather, one of them) against Axel, following up by unleashing a barrage of coconuts which rammed Axel into the ground, and finishing the combo by letting loose many leaves which swarmed around Axel, cutting him many times and leaving many gashes on his chest. "Now what?" the Cipher Peon laughed. "You're finished!"

Axel suddenly appeared in front of all three Cipher Peons and let his feathers fly loose, slicing the buttons on their remaining Pokéballs. "Wha-? Cheater! We can't send our Pokémon out like this!" the second Cipher Peon shouted. Axel just responded by ramming the three of them with a skydive, knocking them out cold. Zangoose jumped behind Axel and dealt a flurry of punches to Axel's back, but Axel whirled around and kicked him in the face, sending Zangoose flying off the mountain. Next, Seviper lashed out at Axel, fangs shining with poison, but Axel sent several feathers flying at Seviper, causing an impact which left Seviper unconscious. Exeggutor attempted to use another Leaf Storm, but Axel cut all the leaves to pieces and elbowed him in the stomach, knocking the Coconut Pokémon out.

Axel silently looked over the aftermath of the fight, and then shadows whirled around him, wiping away his injuries. His black wings flapped once more, and he flew off into the distance, not bothering to even cover up the carnage.

Perhaps if Axel had paid closer attention, he would've noticed by now his power was weakening.


	35. Under the Moonless Sky

_Somewhere around Sunyshore…_

A stonehedge stood in the dark purple swirling fog, enclosed by many tall trees. Yellow gems embedded in each pillar holding it up flared out defiantly, refusing to be swayed by its influence.

At this time, five figures rushed into the clearing, reaching the stonehedge. "Here we are!" Volkner shouted. "And not a moment too soon; the Corruption Bomb's influence really isn't helping at all!"

Behind the group, a bunch of zombie-like civilians chased after them, not even seeming to have any control over their own minds. They groaned and stumbled towards the four, reaching out for the few people who weren't already taken by the influence of the Corruption Field. Haku whirled and drew his bow, firing arrows at the civilians which suddenly turned into large white nets, restraining them. "That should keep them for a bit," Haku declared.

"What a strange way to make a gate," Uryu commented when he saw the stonehedge. "So, Volkner, do you even know how to activate that thing?"

"Yeah!" Volkner replied. "The keys should already be there…" He silently allowed his _reiatsu_ to flow out and enter the crystals, causing them to activate and glow bright yellow, creating a pillar of light through the fog up to the heavens. "It's open! We have to go _now_!" he shouted.

Volkner charged into the beam of light, and his image blurred and went flying up towards the top of the pillar. "Whoa! He disappeared!" Orihime exclaimed, before jumping in herself along with Chad, Uryu and Haku. All four shot towards the clouds after Volkner.

Not too long after, in an elegant chamber, Volkner's image blurred into view, and he stepped out of the light. He glanced around at all the ornate carvings of what chaos happened in ancient times, and several statues of a tall, roughly humanoid mechanical being. Two large arms were sculpted, perfectly replicating the complex mechanisms contained within, all the weaponry the Electric Elemental had at its arms' disposal merely the result of a rearrangement of components. The legs were the same, though much more armor plating covered it, protecting the vital movement servos and retractable flight turbines. Pointing upwards were the most memorable aspect of Voltikron: two enormous cannons attached to its back, the same part that contained their main flight thruster jets. Its sculpted face betrayed no emotion, its eyes glowing soft blue in the gloom. _It's exactly the same as when I last saw it,_ he thought with a bit of awe.

Orihime followed him out of the light shortly afterward. "Wow! This is a beautiful place!" she commented.

"Yeah," Volkner agreed. "Because this was made by Aethereans to honor the Electric Elemental. And most Aethereans were good with art."

Uryu, Chad, and Haku soon stepped out as well, and Volkner pressed some buttons on a nearby computer, causing the light to disperse so no one else could come in. "Well, now that we're here," Chad wondered, "what can we do?"

"We'll have to find the main chamber. I left my Pokédex Ultra there," Volkner replied, already moving towards an adjoining hallway. "Come on! We need to find my Elemental!"

"And you're not worried about traps?" Haku asked skeptically, striding after him while continuing to try to sense for some traps. _One explosion could mean everything's over._

"I've been here twice before, and I reset the traps I triggered before leaving," Volkner replied, shrugging. "I think I'd know where the traps are."

"But you could have forgotten some of them," Uryu argued, noticing he was sensing something odd about the smooth floor and walls that Volkner was passing through, "like for instance-"

But it was too late. Volkner's foot pressed on a certain part of the floor which suddenly descended slightly. "Oh, no!" Volkner gasped before hurling himself to the ground while panels on the wall suddenly slid back, revealing lasers which began to rapid fire. The rest of the group followed suit and dropped to the ground as well. Finally, the lasers stopped firing, and the panels on the wall and floor slid back into place, not leaving any trace. "Okay, I guess I forgot about a few," Volkner finally admitted.

Uryu bent down and inspected the pressure plate Volkner had triggered…or rather where it was. "That was a rather impressive trap; I didn't sense it until I got very close."

"Is it really safe for us to be doing this if they have traps hidden as well as this, then?" Orihime asked anxiously.

"Yeah," Volkner replied, jumping to his feet. "I was just being a bit careless. Let's try this again."

* * *

_At Oreburgh Mine…_

"Go! Rock Smash!" With a crash, a Weavile ripped through the rock in the mine. Hyoshiro, Toshiro, Momo, and Izuru dropped into the hole. "Alright, now we have to navigate the mines and find the Sanctuary," Hyoshiro muttered. "But where could it be? There isn't so much as a mark that shows where it is. In fact, there probably wouldn't even be a tunnel that led to it."

"We can't sense its location, either," Toshiro added. "Dang…do we have to dig through everything to find it? And anyway, there are wild Pokémon still in the mine which might get scared by us, so we can't be too careful."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Long ago, Aethereans made the Sanctuaries to honor the Elementals," Hyoshiro sighed. "But they didn't exactly want people ruining their monuments, so the Sanctuaries were made with _reiatsu_-blocking stone, and various devices blocked any sort of probing devices, so nothing would be found."

"Then how do we have any hope of finding it?" Momo worried, looking around the tunnel. "If we can't use _Kido_ to find it, it'll take days-time that we don't have…"

"But…" Hyoshiro murmured, suddenly getting a thought. "There's one problem with the _reiatsu_-blocking stone. When it blocks a spell, there's a slight glimmer of your own _reiatsu_ being reflected back at you. It's very faint, though, so you have to work hard to sense it."

"Let's try it, then," Toshiro replied. "Okay, everyone, use a probing _Kido_ and start looking for it."

"Alright, but it'll take over half an hour," Momo warned, beginning to perform the spell. A red burst of energy flew from her palms into the wall.

"It'll be worth the wait," Hyoshiro replied, beginning to use his own Aetherean magic. "But for now, we may as well make ourselves comfortable." A pulse of icy blue light flashed out from his body and seeped into the rocks. As it faded, all four sat against the walls, waiting for the results of their search…

* * *

_45 minutes later…_

Toshiro was the first to notice the rebounding energy. He stood up quickly, interrupting the silence, and attempted to sense where it was coming from. The others looked expectantly up at him. "I can sense it," Toshiro declared. "It's coming from north-northwest, down below-about 1,500 meters. Momo, try to find the tunnels we can take to get there quickest."

Momo nodded and used another _Kido_, sending energy through the tunnels and memorizing their structure. "Alright, I'll lead the way," she declared, and they headed down through more tunnels.

The route Momo had chosen was very time consuming. Several tunnels were collapsed, and the rock was unstable in the walls, ceiling and floor at other tunnels. Avoiding these routes and taking detours took away more precious minutes.

Just when they were rounding the final corner of the tunnel which would take them to the Sanctuary, there was suddenly a rumble, and small bits of rock fell from the ceiling. "What? A cave-in?" Toshiro gasped as the rocks began to tremble.

"That can't be!" Momo protested. "The rock was stable here!"

"Cipher must have taken the more destructive method of getting here!" Hyoshiro growled. "Run for it!" He held up _Hyorinmaru_ and froze all the rocks, and then they began to run. A soft light was at the end of the tunnel, but they never got to see the source. The ice shattered as rocks poured from the ceiling at that very moment, knocking them all unconscious.

And there was _silence_.

_Above the Shadow Pokémon Factory…_

Shooter let out a shout of surprise as he was hurled down towards the factory, smashing into one of the smokestacks and cracking it, causing putrid purple smoke to burst out. Soon after, a green _Cero_ followed him, blasting the smokestack to pieces. But Shooter flew out with jets of fire trailing him and rocketed towards where the _Cero_ came from. Ulquiorra raised his hand and put it on Shooter's shoulder, pushing to the side and both sending Shooter off course and pushing himself away from the Admin's machine gun attack. The Arrancar whirled around in midair, unsheathed his sword, and surged at Shooter.

Shooter put a hand on his machine gun, and it flashed with red light, morphing to have a bayonet at the end, and they began to clash. However, no matter how hard either of them swung, Ulquiorra's hand was always in his pocket. "What's wrong?" Shooter panted, bringing his bayonet behind his head and swinging again, but Ulquiorra nimbly sidestepped. "Am I unworthy of you using both hands?"

"No," Ulquiorra replied quietly. "I'm just in a lazy mood today." With a flick of his wrist, he launched Shooter at another tower, shattering it, and quickly followed. Shooter had no time to move before Ulquiorra's blade planted itself in him, and then Ulquiorra's other hand whipped out of his pocket-but not to his blade, instead charging a _Cero_. There was nothing Shooter could do except bring up a barrier of flame, which the flash of green light tore through easily. However, when the green light faded, Ulquiorra noted that Shooter had managed to escape, and whirled to block the strike from his bayonet.

"I've never known you to be lazy in the time I've known you!" Shooter replied, jumping back and shooting again.

"Enough foolishness," Ulquiorra declared, deflecting the bullets. "I'm afraid I need to cut this short; we don't have enough time to deal with you, when the entire region is in danger. _Enclose, Murcielago_. (Bat)" And then, a burst of black energy outlined with green burst from his sword, covering the sky in darkness. From that darkness, green energy poured from the sky in a fashion akin to rain.

Underneath, Candice felt the "rain" drop on her shoulders and looked up in surprise. Ho-Oh looked up as well, and as the rain continued to drop, both of them suddenly found a feeling of despair enter them. "What is this rain…?" Candice wondered, watching the source of the darkness.

Almost immediately as it appeared, the black energy disappeared, revealing Ulquiorra in a new form. Two large bat wings obscured the sky, and the helmet-like mask had morphed to cover the entire top of his head, two horns protruding out. The streaks from his eyes had become black and wider, and his clothes now formed a sleeveless robe. His wings spread, he uttered "_Luz de la Luna_ (Moonlight)," and before Shooter knew it, the Arrancar was upon him, blades of green light hacking away.

"Augh!" Shooter shouted, trying to block Ulquiorra's attack with his gun but failing. "Used your _Resurrecion_, huh? But I'm sure I can defeat it!" Switching to a machine gun, he jumped back began to fill the air with bullets around him, causing them to burst up in flame. The sky filled with fire, and it became hard for Ulquiorra to move. "It worked!" Shooter laughed.

Except then, the fire was all blown away with a few wingbeats from Ulquiorra's wings. "Change your strategy if you really want to fight me," he coldly stated, and raised his hand, causing black energy outlined with green to gather at his fingertip. "_Cero Oscuras_. (Dark Zero)" A giant blast of black energy flew from his finger, crashing into Shooter. Upon impact, it plowed the Admin straight into the factory and unleashed a brilliant green explosion, obliterating the factory's roof and several of the upper floors. Ulquiorra turned away from the vast ruination and soared to earth, waiting for the others.

After several minutes of shattering metal and screaming, Ichigo burst out of the door, followed by his friends (and a huge explosion). "Cough…DO YOU HAVE TO USE YOUR CERO OSCUROS ALL THE TIME? WE COULD HAVE BEEN FRIED ALIVE BY THAT!" Ichigo screamed at the Espada.

"I had to end the fight quickly," Ulquiorra replied. "But anyway, Ash, have you caught the Ho-Oh?"

"It took us some time, but Candice and I got it done," Ash replied, holding up an Ultra Ball. He dusted himself off and looked back at the smoking factory. "Well, that puts another dent in Cipher's plans. What should we do now?"

"Oh yeah, guys, that reminds me," Renji suddenly remembered. "I found Shooter's office and saw on his computer an e-mail that he had open and forgot to close-it says they're building a huge stronghold at Mt. Coronet. Maybe we should head there?"

"Mt. Coronet?" Byakuya wondered with surprise. "That's odd. What would they do there?" But he probably shouldn't have asked, because he would not like it when his question was answered…

* * *

_On the way from Iron Island to Oreburgh…_

Aeron, Hanna and Eddie were driving to Oreburgh as quickly as they could. However, they were going so fast that speed limit got _completely shattered_. It didn't help that Axel's sudden disappearance had TOTALLY stressed them out, and they wanted to get there even faster.

"But what _could_ cause that, anyway?" Eddie demanded. "I don't know what Cipher could possibly have obtained that could beat him THAT badly, not after what happened LAST time we shut them down!"

"Who knows with Cipher," Aeron replied, shrugging. "They're good at surviving, and even better at making REALLY crazy comebacks. It's like every time they're put down, they get a NEW ace."

"Not to mention some absolute Game Breaker technology," Hanna added. "Like last time, it was…er…do you even want me to bring up M-"

"NO NO NO NO NO DON'T BRING THAT THING UP!" Eddie screamed, clutching his head. "MUST…NOT…REMEMBER…AWFUL…MEMORIES…"

**Eddies_ has encountered a problem and needs to shut down. We are sorry for the inconvenience.**

Hanna sighed and got onto Eddie's motorcycle, slinging the unconscious Eddie onto the back. "I can't believe he's still traumatized by that fight."

"Well, he got beat up REALLY badly," Aeron replied. "But back to business. The thing that finished him off was probably…"

However, the two were interrupted by a voice echoing through their heads. _Okay, here we go. Testing, testing, one two three. Does everyone hear me?Annabelle? You're in Sinnoh right now?_ Hanna thought.

_Yep, we didn't arrive too long ago. Anyway, we've got a serious problem on our hands. You felt Axel's presence fade, right? Well, we found out just WHAT it was that beat him. It was…a Lugia. But not any normal Lugia, but one infused with _Demon_ powers._

Hearing the only word Annabelle thought-that began with "d" was enough to blow Hanna and Aeron off their motorcycles in shock. _WHAT?_ they both thought back, not really wanting to believe that.

_Yeah, I'm afraid it's true, guys,_ they heard Annabelle think._ Ashura, Salvo, Rosie, and I battled that thing, and we actually DIDN'T manage to make it faint. Not after we…_ Annabelle went through most of the fight, and Hanna and Aeron listened intently. _So be careful. Not too long ago, Cipher brought a bunch of Ciphercopters to take it back while it was still frozen in space and time, and used tractor beams to take it back to their base. They used up most of their helicopters, too, because we destroyed a lot of them._

_Well, I guess that helps quite a bit, _Aeron thought. _But…any other leads on where Axel went just now?_

There was a long silence, and by the end of it, Aeron's eyes already were downcast before the answer came. _No. I'm sorry, Aeron._

Hanna gazed at Aeron sympathetically. Years ago, Aeron had died, and Axel seemed to act as Aeron was now. She finally decided losing your sibling was the worst thing that could ever happen to brothers like Axel and Aeron. "Don't worry, Aeron, we should be able to find him," she attempted to soothe him.

"You don't know what it's like," Aeron shot back, probably harsher than he intended for it to be. "Hanna, our mental link is stronger with _each other_ than with you guys. Without him, it feels like I've suddenly been severed from the world. Like I've lost something inside of me forever."

"Aeron…" Hanna was about to say something else, but she didn't get the chance to. It was then that, in the bright sunny day where everything seemed in plain sight, five bright red wounds suddenly etched themselves across her body and clothes out of nowhere.

Aeron's lamentations about Axel's disappearance suddenly disappeared in a flash when he saw Hanna's blood go flying from the new cut on her forehead. He whirled and quickly grabbed the brake handle of Eddie's motorcycle, stopping it before it could crash into a rock. Hanna slumped over onto the handlebars of the motorcycle, having passed out. Aeron quickly looked her over and, while he began to heal these injuries, deduced that the attacks somehow managed to penetrate her bones slightly, and the pain coming from so many different parts of her body was too much for her, overloading her senses and causing her to faint. _But what could cause something like that, _and_ slip by my senses entirely?_

"_Kisama!_ (The second rudest way of saying 'you' in Japanese)" he shouted into the distance. "Come out and show yourself!" Even at this moment, though, he was already sensing a _reiatsu_ darting through the trees nearby. _Is that the guy?_ Making sure Hanna and Eddie were safe, he raised _Tsubasa no Rai-oh _and ran at thetrees, not even sparing a thought of "is this a good idea or am I running to my death?".

But just when Aeron began to enter the trees (and he hasn't attacked already because he doesn't like deforestation or killing innocent wild Pokémon), a slash appeared across his left arm. _What the hell?_ he thought, perplexed by this sight. He was so busy trying to figure out how he suddenly received this cut, that he left himself undefended and was slashed across the chest by his attacker.

Aeron let out a shout of pain, expecting the attack to continue up and slash him from left hip to right shoulder, then noticed that the slash stopped…right where the light stopped shining. Thinking about it, he remembered that his left arm was in light when it was cut, and so was every spot where Hanna had been cut. _Whatever this attack is…it can strike anywhere as long as it's in light!_ he finally deduced. He turned to look at Hanna and Eddie, and was relieved that they were safely in the shadows. Of course, then he wondered why he felt so much pain in his left shoulder…and realized the sun was shining on it, and 20 CUTS had landed on it. "AW CRAP!" Aeron screamed.

Suddenly, his attacker bounded up to the treetops and flew away on a gust of wind. Aeron noticed him immediately and raised _Tsubasa no Rai-oh_, released it, and allowed golden lightning to spiral up its length. "_Ikazuchi Chikara!_" he shouted. The golden-white lightning bolt leapt from the tip of his blade, crackling towards his attacker. However, the enemy suddenly slashed with a sword he was holding, and the lightning was suddenly batted away, dispersed in the air. "Crap, he can even stop _Ikazuchi Chikara_…" Aeron growled. "You're not getting away!"

"Hmph!" the enemy snorted. "Whoever said I was running awa-" Suddenly, his foot snagged on a branch sticking out of the treetops, causing him to tumble through the leaves to the ground. "WAH? AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" the enemy shouted as he went spiraling into the ground like a falling star.

"…um…" Aeron slowly walked over to the crash zone. "Um, hey? Are you okay?"

Suddenly, a hand came out, pointing at him. "DUNT-DAAAAAN!" the man shouted. Aeron jumped with surprise at this, but quickly found it totally NOT intimidating. "Dunt-da-da-dunt-da-daaaaa-da-da-dunt-da-KOFF! KOFF! Dunt-da-KOFF! Dunt-! HEY!" the guy started doing a weird show, ending with a spin kick and a weird pose (it's so bizarre I can't find words to describe it O_o). Needless to say, Aeron's face showed perfectly how he felt.

"NOW, HEY YOU!" yelled the guy. "WHAT'RE YOU MAKING THAT FACE FOR?"

"Well, you know…" began Aeron, but his words were quickly cut off.

"WHAT'RE YOU MAKING THAT FACE FOR? WHAT'RE YOU MAKING THAT FACE FOR?" the guy yelled again and again.

"Dude, shut up," Aeron muttered, face completely deadpan. "I heard you the first time. You don't have to say the same thing over and over and over again."

"You were just an audience to the Great Dordondii's graceful entrance scene! And yet…" the man began.

"Graceful? You _tripped on your face_," Aeron retorted. His face was still deadpan.

"How can you act so _calm_ after watching such a performance? Why do you feign composure?" Dordondii shouted, once again pointing at Aeron.

"I've seen so many people like this, it's made me completely immune to their weirdness," Aeron replied.

"Hmph! Oh, well, whatever. I'll just have to accept that our tastes are different. And that you simply cannot understand the finer arts of the theater," Dordondii sighed. Aeron returned this with a glare, the first emotion he had shown for the past 30 seconds. "It hardly matters since you're about to be killed," Dordondii finished. Then he whirled around and placed a hand on his chest. "Now, prepare yourself, _niño_! For I, Dordondii-sama, an **Administrator of Cipher**, will crush you right now!"

"Uh, huh," Aeron replied. "Come at me, bro." His face didn't change a bit, but his grip on _Tsubasa no Rai-oh_ began to tighten. _If this is a Cipher Admin we're talking about…I needed my _Bankai_ against Gaea. I can't afford to take chances._

_Cipher Admin Don Panini-er, Dordondii would like to battle!_

"Here I come, _niño_!" Dordondii shouted. He jumped backward and kicked the air with his boots, sending a gale slashing everything in its path to reach Aeron.

"A wind user?" Aeron muttered, sidestepping the attack. "That isn't enough, though. Let me show you _real_ wind usage!" He raised _Tsubasa no Rai-oh_ over his head, and green winds spiraled up its blade, creating a green glow around it. "_Reppuzan_!" As Aeron swung the blade down, the winds surged off the blade and flew towards Dordondii. However, the Admin dispersed them with his own power.

"It'll take more than that to defeat me!" Dordondii laughed. "I can stop your wind attacks easily!" He raised his foot and sent a tornado flying…at Hanna and Eddie.

Aeron's eyes narrowed at the usage of dirty tricks like that, but he didn't absolutely freak out. Instead, he raised his hand and, concentrating on the cyclone, he caused it to disperse. Then he let _Tsubasa no Rai-oh_ flash white, flames dancing across its length in an instant. _"Nagareboshi!"_ he shouted, bringing the blade behind his head and swinging it, launching a massive white fireball spiraling at Dordondii. However, the Admin kicked again, whipping up a gust to blow the fireball away.

"So you like blowing my attacks away, eh?" Aeron growled. "Try to blow THIS away, then!" He pointed his finger at Dordondii, and three streaks of green light began to pull in towards his finger, creating a bright green sphere at his finger. Three more streaks pulled in afterward, and three more after that. Then the first three green streaks completely were pulled into the sphere, and three more began to pull towards his finger. _"Shinsei Taiho!"_ he shouted, unleashing a massive green bolt of energy.

Dordondii tried to blow it away, but found it wasn't affected by his winds. "So I can't do that, eh?" he asked. "Fine!" He jumped to the side, letting the blast crash into the trees behind him.

Aeron panicked briefly before realizing that no Pokémon were hurt; they had all fled when Hanna nearly crashed. "That's a relief," he muttered. "Okay! I've gotta get this guy out of here!" He jumped onto his motorcycle. "You're following me!" he shouted, driving away. Before Dordondii could protest, Aeron used a _Kido_ to forcibly grab Dordondii's arm and pull him off.

_Yes!_ Aeron thought. _Now I can get us into the open, so we won't hurt anyone else…_Of course, it was at that point that his front tire began to inch into the sunlight…

Everything happened surprisingly fast. Dordondii suddenly reached to a sword at his hip which Aeron had failed to notice and slashed while drawing it. The unsuspecting Aeron suddenly found his motorcycle's front tire being struck by an unknown force, sending him catapulting into the air. Dordondii smirked, cut himself free, and slashed again, cutting Aeron's back wide open.

"Argh…" Eddie grumbled as he began to wake up. "Brain…almost…blown up…huh?" He rose and turned around to see Aeron seemingly being cut by ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, and Dordondii slashing the air for the lolz. "Aeron? What's going on?" Eddie shouted, and he began to run towards them.

"STAY BACK!" Aeron shouted, causing Eddie to stop. Aeron quickly rolled back into the shadow, and raised _Tsubasa no Rai-oh_ to keep fighting. "That blade he's holding can cut anything which light shines across!" Aeron shouted. Eddie looked down and quickly realized Aeron had stopped him on the very edge of the shadow. "Don't take another step forward!" Aeron shouted.

"My, my. That won't do," Dordondii murmured. He raised his foot and brought it down, causing a gust to blow up. Eddie suddenly found himself being swept into the light by the wind, but he grabbed onto a tree and whirled 180 degrees, grabbing onto another tree to keep himself from being blown away. Dordondii growled and began a furious tornado, ripping the trees out of the ground.

"WHOA!" Eddie shouted, losing his grip and flying like a mere STICK in the gust. "This will be annoying! Oh well, it's no big deal." He put a hand on his sword. "Leap through the sky-"

Sudddenly, before either Aeron or Eddie could do anything, Dordondii slashed again, causing a massive wound to fly across Eddie's chest. By reflex, Aeron dashed out of the shadows to catch Eddie, but then Dordondii whirled and brought his blade down in a swift chop, slashing Aeron similarly. Both Origin Captains met the ground in a matter of seconds, but it felt like several long hours to both of them. Dordondii laughed and laughed. "Yes, that's it! How satisfying! Continue to dance, you two! That is, continue to dance on this theater of your DEATH!"

"I never…" Eddie clenched his teeth, and his grip on his sword tightened, despite all the gashes on his arms. "I NEVER ASKED TO BE AN ACTOR, GOD DANG IT!" Dordondii's eyes widened as Eddie suddenly sprang off one of the flying pieces of rock and grabbed onto a tree (also flying), throwing himself at Dordondii with his sword outstretched. "TAKE THIS, LOSER!" Eddie shouted.

"How pathetic," Dordondii scoffed, and he sidestepped Eddie's attack, then grabbed him by the arm and slashed with the blade, cutting Eddie's chest AGAIN. But because Eddie's back was in the sun, a slash appeared there, too! "Well? Won't you dance? Act One isn't over yet!" Dordondii shouted, chopping again and sending Eddie hurtling to the ground, causing Eddie to shout as he crashed into the earth, plowing it up and skidding a good 5 meters. "What a beautiful scene! Such acting of pain and suffering… Act One was perfect!" Dordondii laughed, his hands raised for emphasis. (He's a cruel guy, huh?)

"You know, I really wish the author wouldn't throw us into Curbstomp Battles because he's feeling down," Aeron growled as he struggled to rise, and extended a hand to help Eddie do so.

**Fine. Dou you want me to say the reason is "**_**ORE NO FAN S**__**Ā**__**BISU! XD"**_**? (My Fan Service! XD) Also, "ore" is a very boastful way in Japanese to say "me." In other words: I'M AN ARROGANT JERK! :D…although you all probably knew that already.**

"NO, WE DON'T WANT YOU USING 'FAN SERVICE' FOR AN EXCUSE. And by the way, you watch too much Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL," Eddie shouted back. (The character IV in Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL talks about his "Fan Service" a lot, which involves signing autographs, playing Children's Card Games and praising people for their skills…then completely smashing them to pieces in the Card Game. If only he had a motorcycle.)

**Okay, okay, I like Children's Card Games. What's your point?**

"My point is THAT YOU SHOULDN'T CURBSTOMP BATTLE US," Aeron angrily shouted. "BECAUSE IT REALLY HURTS FOR U-"

"You let your guard down," Dordondii called, and another slash quickly appeared on Aeron's chest. Aeron hollered again, but began to charge up another _Shinsei Taiho_. Dordondii smirked, though; Aeron was still standing in the light. Another swing of his sword, and suddenly _Shinsei Taiho_ exploded violently in Aeron's face, sending him crashing into the ground.

"OH MY GOD, AERON!" Eddie shouted, although he had rolled backward into the shadows. He turned to look at Dordondii, who had a confident smirk on his face which just made the Origin Captain's teeth grind together in rage. "Man, how do we take on this ability? It stops us dead in our tracks!"

"Curse your shrewd tricks! I'll seal all your options off from you!" Aeron raged, and he leapt to his feet, jammed _Tsubasa no Rai-oh_ into the ground and raised his hands, wrists meeting. With a loud whistling, snow-sweeping winds began to circle his hand, forming a nimbus of white at his hands. _"Hama Hyoketsu!_" The white nimbus flashed, then burst out in a great flare that streaked like a comet at Dordondii. But the admin was prepared and created a cyclone, launching himself into the air. Where he had been standing earlier, the attack struck a rock, flashed and began to expand outward, crystallizing its energy into a vast glacier which towered over the trees, making them look merely like sticks.

Dordondii smirked. "Oh, dear, even the feared Aeron Solo makes misconceptions, it seems. By making that glacier, you've given me an _advantage_."

"What?" Aeron's eyes narrowed, but then they widened when he realized what was wrong. The clear, polished glacier was reflecting sunlight _into the shadows_, thereby giving Dordondii even more angles to attack from…including EXACTLY where they were standing. _Oh crap! What was I thinking? I practically let myself give him the edge!_

Before either Aeron or Eddie could move, they were DICED, and all the grass in front of them was painted a bright red with their blood (creepy, I know. When did my writing get so graphic?). "What beautiful acting!" Dordondii laughed. "But I'm afraid…it's time to close the curtain on the battle!"

**WHOOM!**

Before Dordondii's smile could leave his face, and before Aeron or Eddie could pay attention to anything other than the pain, a large curtain of darkness erupted from the ground and covered the sky, shrouding everything in blackness. "Wh-what is this?" Dordondii shouted, whirling around. But there was nothing that could be seen in the infinite black. He tried slashing, but there was no light, so he was doing it blind.

"Urgh…are we dead?" Eddie asked, too sore to even try to nurse his wounds.

"I think not," Aeron replied. "I mean, we're still here, and not dissolving into dust or-" Both of them stopped when a song suddenly rang out in the darkness. It may have been quiet, but to Aeron and Eddie, it sounded as though a knife had slashed the darkness neatly in half.

Finally, the music stopped. "I wholeheartedly agree," a voice echoed in the darkness. "It _is_ time to pull the curtain on this show-one of darkness."

"Who's there?" Dordondii shouted. "Show yourself!" He whirled around, but only was greeted with more music. This seemed to come from a flute, with an eerily lilting song for the black veil upon them.

Then the music stopped. "This _is_ an opera; it obviously needs music. And I'm only first chair flute…and the bringer of your death." Dordondii froze when he heard this, and immediately was slashed in the darkness. He started looking all around, but saw nothing, and another slash appeared on his back.

"Welcome to our Moonless Sky," he heard the words echo in the darkness. The once-confident Admin shook at the words with fear, desperately looking around for who said it, but not seeing anyone. "Mine…and _Mugetsu's (Moonless Sky)._"

"Uhhhh…" Hanna groaned as she rose from Eddie's motorcycle. Immediately, she was greeted with the sight of the darkness rising from the ground, evaporating into the sky. "What the-? What happened when I was unconscious?"

"HEY! I kind of need healing magic here!" she heard Eddie shout.

Hanna gasped when she saw Aeron and Eddie, who looked AWFUL, although Aeron was already regenerating with green lightning bolts crackling over his skin. She held her hands over the two, and they were enveloped in blue light, their injuries erasing quickly. "What happened to you two?"

This was interrupted by the sound of metal breaking apart, and all three looked up to see the sword Dordondii had used clatter to the ground, broken in two. "It's destroyed," they heard as they looked up at their rescuer. He was a young man with black hair and silver eyes, and he had a black _Shikahusho_ and a Captain's _haori_ with "12" on it. "To use the power of the sun, which even we depend on from day to day…I thought that wasn't Cipher's style. Without the power of that sword, though…he wasn't much."

"I can't believe they managed to duplicate _that_ sword," Aeron commented with a troubled look, standing up as the last of the cuts on his body faded. "But thanks for coming. We would have been toast without you!" He looked back at Dordondii's unconscious form, sprawled across the ground with many slashes across it. "You're going to leave him alive?"

"Is that so much of a surprise to you?" the man replied, a touch of annoyance entering his voice. "He was able to survive the first strike. And if we assassins can't take down our opponent in the first strike…it's already failure. You should know that better than anyone else, Aeron."

Aeron began to protest, then decided against it and just sighed and grinned. "You're a true assassin through and through, man," he muttered, closing his eyes. "I sensed the other two arrive in Sinnoh earlier, though, so you're the last one."

"Need I mention, then, the things I was doing before the call to arrive in Sinnoh came out?" the man asked. Aeron thought about this, then shook his head. "Good."

Aeron silently watched the sun sink behind the mountains in the distance with a sorrowful expression, then turned to the black haired man. "It's sad, though. I know it's not your fault, you know, seeing as you have _Mugetsu_ (remember that it means Moonless Night). But…"

"I understand perfectly," the man replied, turning to leave. "Without Axel, your domain is a moonless sky of tearful rain tonight." He turned back to Aeron with a slightly softer expression. "Don't worry, Aeron. Moons don't stay eclipsed forever." With that, he walked into a shadow…and disappeared.

Watching him, Aeron slowly contemplated what he had just heard. _But how long will my sky be moonless?_ he wondered as he walked back to Hanna to help Eddie heal.

* * *

_That night, in a chamber in a discreet location…_

Loud roaring filled the chamber, along with dark red lights. Demon Lugia, having broken the spell Ashura placed on him, was in great pain; many machines on the walls and floor of the chamber were launching dark red streams of energy at him.

Luna and Gaea oversaw the process from a catwalk above the whole complex with expressions of complete displeasure…but for completely different reasons. "It's really getting quite troublesome now," Luna sighed. "Always, we must charge his body with large quantities of Demonic energy, and it's extremely difficult to obtain anyway…that makes using Demon Lugia almost impractical now. If we can't completely conquer Sinnoh quickly, our greatest asset will be sealed off from us."

_And that may be better,_ Gaea thought, but she kept it completely to herself. "So what's our plan?" she asked, desperately hoping her voice didn't show how she felt.

"We're going to have to step up our efforts," Luna replied. "Gaea, your suggestion to use Demon Lugia to eliminate Nightblazer was a good idea, but it left us a bit drained of resources. So we must move quickly to corrupt the remaining Sanctuaries. I failed at Snowpoint, so we'll have to launch another offensive there."

"…" Hoping they'd be able to avoid what she wanted to, Gaea asked, "And if there are innocent people in our way…?"

"Gaea, I told you. We have to remove anyone in our way by any means necessary," Luna replied. She would've continued, but didn't get the chance to.

Gaea suddenly whirled to face Luna with a look of anguish on her face. "No, Luna. It's not 'by any means necessary' anymore. I don't want to think like that at all."

Luna sensed something was wrong by looking at Gaea's face. "And why do you say that?"

"When I went to get rid of Nightblazer…" The memory alone caused tears to run down Gaea's face. "The _entire Battle Frontier_ was destroyed…and _everyone_ was killed! Luna, I'm almost afraid to use Demon Lugia now because of how many people he killed yesterday! Please, let's not use 'by any means necessary' from now on."

Luna was almost stunned by Gaea's sudden outburst, then sighed. "I see. We'll try to clear out any places we're about to pass through with nonviolent means, then."

But as the red light of the chamber slowly intensified and faded, both of them couldn't help but wonder what horrors could happen in the future, and if they themselves would end up causing those.

* * *

_At Mt. Coronet…_

Axel was flying silently through the foggy sky. The tentacles of corruption energy that manifested from the fog seemed to not affect him at all, but his face was absolutely devoid of all emotion. Now, he was flying around to find Cipher Peons and stop them dead in their tracks.

It was then that he noticed the Cipher Peons in the valley beneath him. Angling his black wings and bursting into dark energy, he descended like a black shadow upon the Cipher Peons. They screamed when they noticed him, and immediately brought out their Pokémon: An Octillery, a Victreebel, and a Porygon-Z. "Attack Nightblazer!" they shouted.

In moments, Axel was blasted with Ice Beams, Energy Balls, and a few powerful Hyper Beams. They froze Axel's feathers, ripped at his coat, and blasted him backwards, the frozen feathers shattering as they crashed into the rock. As soon as the barrage was over, however, Axel was already getting up.

"What? How can he get up after all that?" a Cipher Peon shouted in dismay.

"Fool, don't you see?" the other Cipher Peon laughed. "It's clear he's forcing himself up. We must have hurt him a lot! Again, Porygon-Z!" Axel shielded himself with what remained of his wings from the next barrage, although new feathers were shimmering into view already. Another Hyper Beam flew at him, but this time Axel dodged, as he must have known already that he couldn't take another one head on. In doing so, however, he left himself open and got struck with an Ice Beam, sending him spinning into the ground half frozen. At that moment, several Energy Balls crashed into him while Axel was still thawing out, crackling around him and reducing his resistance. Then one more Hyper Beam roared towards him, but Axel dashed out of the way just in time. Another Ice Beam crashed into him, freezing him solid.

"Now, Octillery! Octazooka!" one of the Cipher Peons shouted, pointing at Axel. Octillery began to charge a sphere of water in front of his face…except it was black with ink. Then the Jet Pokémon fired the ink sphere, causing it to explode in front of Axel, obscuring his view with the black liquid. "Now's our chance! Fire away!" the Cipher Peon crowed, and three Hyper Beams crashed towards Axel. However, when the attack ended, he was gone. "What? Where'd he go?"

By the time they finally noticed the shadow above, the black feathers rained down, impaling themselves into the ground while slashing the Cipher Peons on their way. They screamed as the assault continued, and ordered their Pokémon to ignore the pain and fire upward. But Axel quickly strafed between their attacks and avoided where they were about to fire. When the rain of black feathers finally ceased, the Cipher Peons were lying in a pile of rubble, unconscious. Axel quietly walked over to them and took their Pokéballs which he found had Shadow Pokémon in them, transferring them to his PC.

The black-feathered "angel" stood there for a long moment, his form morphing briefly into shadows and then back to its original form, devoid of injuries. Axel began to walk away, but suddenly felt a throb in his chest and stumbled. For several long moments, he knelt there, clutching his side with a look of astonishment. Grimacing, Axel flapped his wings and began to fly away, much slower than before.


	36. For Axel: Light the way, Wado Ichimonji

**SUPER MEGA HAPPY ULTRA SPECIAL EPIC AWESOME UPDAAAAATE!**

_**BLAM!**_** (Gets shot for going **_**WAAAAAAAAY**_** over the randumbness limit)**

**Ow…sorry, I forgot to drink my anti-craziness potion today. (drinks potion) Okay, back to normal now.**

**I've been away for a pretty long while, huh? For some reason, I wanted to upload this chapter and the previous one at the same time. Yeah, I'm weird. **

**And, now I've done something which I think I'll be killed for: I put the actual lyrics for my second favorite song in. The italic lines are Japanese (romanji) lyrics, and the bold lines are English. (No, I have no good excuse for putting in a song which is about love. If you want to kill me, fine. Just saying, I think the real life Ben certainly will.)**

**There's a special event this month for me…find out after the chapter. :D**

**Okay, that's enough random crap coming from me. Read on, and I hope you thoroughly enjoy the taste…**_** ORE NO FAN S**__**Ā**__**BISU O! **_**(Of my Fan Service!)**

* * *

The morning sun finally rose out of the trees' reach, casting a brilliant orange glow across Route 227. Dewdrops on the grass caught the light, beginning to glow brightly.

It was to this sight that Niko blearily rubbed his eyes, trying to fully wake up. "Yawn…what a beautiful morning…" he muttered dreamily. If only he didn't have the memories of the other day to spoil it…the Pikachu's face immediately fell.

It was then that Ben rose with a loud yawn. "Man, that sunrise looks amazing," he commented. "It's a sight for sore eyes."

"Like ours?" Niko asked, stretching his short arms a little.

"Yeah, like ours," Ben replied, quickly changing into his black jacket, green shirt and blue pants, putting on his armband which all six of his Pokéballs were attached to, then bending down to pat Niko's head. "It's also sort of a nice way to begin our training. So, you ready, Pikachu?"

"Ready when you are," Niko replied, grinning.

* * *

In a short while, Niko was breathing hard. Along with Heatran, Torterra, Infernape, Jolteon, Empoleon, and Dusknoir, they were ALL battling each other to train…but all six of Ben's Pokémon chose to attack the Pikachu because he was stronger than the rest of them individually. It had taken him all his might to get past each of their attacks, and it didn't look like they were quite out of strength yet. _"What's wrong?"_ Heatran taunted. _"Too tired, Niko?"_

Niko's teeth gritted. _This is totally not fair,_ he thought. _I may be way stronger than most Pikachus, but against all six of Ben's Pokémon…this is practically impossible!_ He raised his hand, and fire began to gather at it. "Not a chance!" he shouted, and punched Torterra's tree. The leaves quickly caught fire, and Torterra roared in surprise. However, Empoleon turned and put the fire out with a Hydro Pump, then turned to Niko and attacked with his sharp beak. The Pikachu jumped to the side, then punched Empoleon with Thunder Punch, blasting Empoleon into the trees sparking. "Yes!" Niko cheered.

Infernape leaped behind the Mouse Pokémon and punched him with two flaming fists, sending Niko flying into a rock. The Flame Pokémon rocketed after him, blazing a bright blue and blasting Niko into a tree, causing the other trees around to go up in flames. Empoleon quickly blasted them with a cascade of water, and the Mouse Pokémon emerged sputtering from the smoldering ruins. Then a fist of darkness crashed into him, sending him flying into the dirt again. _"He's totally not an opponent for all of us,"_ Dusknoir snorted, turning away. _"Maybe Master was expecting too much of him?"_ The other Pokémon agreed with him, laughing…

…except for Jolteon, who didn't seem to like taunting Niko. Instead, he went over to the Mouse Pokémon and offered his paw. _"Need a hand?"_ he asked, pulling him up.

Niko heard them laughing, and with every moment, his fury grew, ignoring Jolteon's nervously asking if he was becoming evil. Ben was totally prepared to pitch himself off a cliff to save Axel, but his Pokémon…they weren't taking ANY of it seriously. Unable to stand what they were saying any longer, Niko suddenly unleashed thousands of volts in a spiraling orb around him, charging his Volt Tackle and jolting Jolteon in surprise.

All five Pokémon stopped short. Niko's fur stood on edge, crackling with dangerous amounts of electricity, which even he usually wouldn't _dare_ to use. "You all disgust me," the Pikachu hissed. "Ben's throwing his life away for my trainer, and you all just go and make it sound like we're gum on the bottom of someone's shoe for pitching ourselves into the most rigorous training possible. WELL GUESS WHAT I SAY TO THAT? GET STUFFED!" Before any of them could move a muscle, Niko blasted into all five of them with so much force that they all went crashing into the trees…but the Pikachu himself was struck by his own stray bolts, causing him to faint immediately.

"…_whoa…"_ Jolteon finally managed. _"Kind of scary when he's angry, huh?"_ The other Pokémon were so freaked out they didn't even know what to say. Finally, Jolteon stood up. _"We should keep training for Master's sake. Come on, let's go!"_ And the brawl resumed, with all Pokémon fighting with vigor.

* * *

Niko watched the sun slowly sink behind the trees, its last pink lights gradually fading. "The first day of our training ends…" he murmured to himself.

"And it sucked," Ben muttered, clenching his fists. The Pikachu turned in surprise. "My improvement rate was _awful_," Ben continued. "I can't help Axel like this."

"You're expecting too much of yourself too fast," Niko replied. "Ben, slow down a little. You'll tear yourself apart if you push yourself like this."

Ben was silent for a long time, then finally stood up. "Niko, I'm going for a walk to clear my thoughts," he said. "Watch the camp, okay?"

"Right," Niko replied. "Say, maybe you should try listening to vistlip's songs while you think. It helps Axel do so." (vistlip is a band which Axel enjoys listening to. And yes, it's supposed to be spelled with a lowercase v)

"Sure, I'll try it," Ben replied as he began to walk away from the campsite. "But because there's no iPod attached or anything, I can't even make it go into music playing mode…" Suddenly, many names of songs popped up in Ben's head. _Whoa! So this is how he chooses his songs…through a neural uplink, _he thought. _But I don't remember his favorite song…well, I guess I'll just play a random song by vistlip._ As he thought this, the names of many vistlip songs popped up. Ben just chose one at random.

***Alo[n]e (vistlip)***

The sound of the electric guitar almost made Ben stop. _Oh yeah! This is Axel's second favorite song…argh, how could I forget that?_ And again he was wondering what happened between them which seemed to disrupt that close-as-brothers bond between them.

_Hitori kurai heyan naka,  
Kodoku nante iya.  
Dare datte sou darou,  
Sore na no ni futari bocchi wa sore ijou no kodokukan…_

**Alone in the dark room,****  
****I hate being lonely.****  
****Everyone probably does,****  
****Yet being together makes me even lonelier…**

The yellow sunlight in the sky faded quickly, giving way to a black sky of twinkling stars. Ben wondered how the entire sky was clear even without Axel-or any of his friends-by his side. "The weather isn't exactly empathetic," he muttered to himself with annoyance. It almost felt like the weather here was mocking him, giving him a clear view of the moonless sky which he was beneath alone…

_Kokoro ni nozokiana wa nai.  
Dakara bokura surechigai bakari nan darou ne.  
Kono kyori ga jama de yoku kikoenai kara  
Dakishimete hoshiin da…_

**Hearts don't come with peepholes.****  
****That's probably why we always misunderstand each other.****  
****I'm too far away from you to hear you,  
So I want you to let me hold you…**

"Would _any_ of my friends understand why I'm doing this?" Ben asked himself, feeling the breeze ruffle his hair. The things his friends had said that made him curse his powerlessness were enough to answer him.

_Reizouko no naka ni wa banira aji no aisu to memori goori.  
Shoumi kigen ni owarenagara sotto nemutteru…_

**In the fridge is vanilla ice cream and memory ice.****  
****It sleeps peacefully, its best-before date approaching…**

Ben silently remembered that last time he, Chris, and Axel had gotten together before Cipher's attack, they bought some vanilla ice cream, its best-before date being March 3 this year. But now it was almost that day, and his share hadn't even been eaten, as he wanted to eat it with his friends. But now the ice cream reaching that date almost seemed to symbolize how large the gap between them was becoming.

_Pinku x kuro ga kirenai color no you ni,  
Yowai bokura orinashite ikou yo!  
"Ikiru imi nante..." tte iun nara,  
Boku wo kimi no imi ni sasete…_

**Like the dull colors of Pink x Black,  
Let's weave our weak selves together!  
If you're going to talk about a "Reason to Live,"  
Let me be your reason…**

"Weave together? Done that," Ben muttered with a bit of sadness. "Axel, Chris, and I were so close when we took Team Galactic down that we might as well have been brothers. Asking one of us to do something actually meant asking all of us. There was no "I," there was only "we." But then, after that, when we went our separate ways, and Chris and I became Champions of Kanto and Sinnoh, while Axel just disappeared without a trace until he became the Tower Tycoon…what happened between us?"

"_I rabu yu" nante tanjun sugiru kedo…  
Hoka ni wa fusawashii hyougen mitsukannain da.  
Dakara asa no uranai koonaa de mezametara tonari de ohayou tte hohoemitai…_

**"I love you" is too simple…****  
****But I can't find anything else that fits.****  
****So I want to wake up in the morning fortune corner and smile at you by my side…**

"Why the long face?" The sudden ringing out of the words from the shadows nearly made Ben jump to the stars in surprise. He slowly turned to see a black-haired young man in a black _Shikahusho_ and a _haori _with 12 on it leaning against a rock, the starlight not able to reach him. "You look depressed."

"Wh-wh-wh-where did you come from?" Ben stammered when he finally managed to make his voice work. "You just came from that _shadow_!"

"Ah, yes," the man replied in a completely casual tone. "That's where I came from." It was then that he noticed the headphones, and his face hardened. "Where did you get those headphones?"

"Uh, I got them from a friend," Ben finally managed after much difficulty. The man didn't look satisfied with this answer, and so, completely ignoring the frustrated and sad tone that entered his voice, Ben continued. "He left them behind and disappeared without a trace because he thought he was too much trouble to his friends. And I'm trying to get stronger to reach him to give him the headphones-and with it, my help in the war going on right now."

The man's eyes went back to their normal state. "So that's it, eh?" he asked. "And the name of that friend was Axel Nightblazer, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Ben replied, not even bothering to ask how he knew. From the looks of it, he didn't know Axel like this guy did. "I don't feel like I can reach him as I am, though." His hands began to clench at this. "I just can't understand why I can't shake off the feeling that he's unreachable…"

The man silently watched his hands clench, then began to walk away. "People may say otherwise, but no one has any power greater than that his friends gave to him. I'm sure the power you intend to give him is just as great." Ben turned, but the man walked into a shadow and disappeared. A bit disappointed that he didn't receive any more advice, he held up his Pokétch and began to type a message to Axel.

_Alone no "n" ga marude torikago ni mieta kara,  
Kimi wo nogasou to "kuria" botan de shoukyo shimashita…_

**The "n" in "Alone" looked just like a bird cage, ****  
****So I hit the "clear" button and deleted it to set you free…**

"_I'm going to get stronger so I can help you, but it's hard; aside from Niko, I'm alone…"_ Ben started to type, but then he and noticed that, if there were bars, "n" really _did_ look like a birdcage, and in "alone" that became even worse, because that pretty much seemed to him like a lonely cage. Knowing the birdcage-like situation he was now in by himself, he deleted "alone" entirely, then wrote _"I have no one to help myself."_

_Baraieti sei no kakera mo nai,  
Bokura no stori zutto enjite ikou!  
Dareka no mane nante iranai;  
Orijinaru de kawari naki sonzai._

**Without a shred of variety anywhere,  
Let's act out our story!****  
****We don't need to imitate anyone else;****  
****We're original and there's nobody like us.**

Ben pressed the send button…and suddenly began to hear in his head the very message he had just typed, in his own voice. With utter numbing shock, he realized the message was never sent to Axel's Pokétch, because he _didn't even have one_. Instead, it was sent to the very headphones he was wearing. His hands shook at the realization that there was _nothing_ connecting them anymore.

_I wanna bi wisu yu, and I rabu yu!  
Mendou kusai gurai no style de choudo iin da yo.  
Kimi no ame ni nurenagara  
Kimi no sora ni te wo kazasu yo._

**I wanna be with you, and I love you!****  
****An annoying style is perfect for us.****  
****As your rain soaks me,  
I'll hold out my hand to your sky.**

Ben turned to walk back to his camp, _Alo[n]e_'s final verses echoing through his ears. He felt depressed now, having realized Axel couldn't be found. To his surprise, however, he saw a lady with brown hair and a violet _Shikahusho _sitting there, holding _Wado Ichimonji_! "HEY!" Ben shouted. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY SWORD!" He grabbed _Shusui_ and immediately proceeded to try and use _Shishi Sonson_ to kill her.

But then the lady whirled and waved her hand, and a violet barrier burst up, repelling Ben. "It's not nice to greet people with violence," she chided. "Especially when I was admiring your sword. _Wado Ichimonji_ is a beautiful sword, isn't it?"

"But this is more than just a sword." Ben ran his hand along the blunt edge of it. "My ancestor got this blade from a deceased friend. They had a dream to become the world's greatest swordsmen, but after that, he took it upon himself to fulfill it for both of them. This is a sword which carries the dreams of whoever wields it and sees to it that they come true. If only it would make mine do so…"

"That dream may come true sometime," the lady replied, handing _Wado Ichimonji_ back. "I hope it does. And maybe you can realize its power which will help your dreams come true…"

Ben stared at the sword, trying to notice anything special. _It's power?_ he thought to himself. He looked up to ask the lady what she meant, only to find the wind whistling by.

And once again, he was alone.

_Kono koe ga todokimasu ka?  
Fukaku, fukake, fukake...  
Kono uta ga todokimasu ka?  
Fuwari, fuwari, fuwari..._

**Will my voice reach you?****  
****Deeply, deeply, deeply...(x2)****  
****Will my song reach you?****  
****Softly, softly, softly...(x2)**

* * *

Although the sun shone brightly the next day, volcanic ash blocked all the light. Inside Stark Mountain, Ben trained himself above the lava by avoiding Palkia and Giratina's attacks (they were taking care not to damage the environment TOO much). Palkia raised both his hands, and the gems on his arms flashed, creating a pink sphere which he hurled at Ben. Ben raised _Wado Ichimonji _and smashed the sphere, but realized he was quickly losing his balance!

Thrusting out _Shusui_ the other way, he righted himself and jumped to another rock to avoid Palkia blasting a stream of water from his mouth, splitting the rock in half. Then a rippling wave of earth burst from the lava, and Ben had to jump to avoid Giratina's Earth Power. _"Ben, don't you think jumping over _LAVA_ while avoiding our attacks is a REALLY bad idea?" _Giratina argued.

"I have to train rigorously to get to the level I need to defeat Cipher," Ben replied, jumping at Giratina. _"Oni Giri!"_ But Giratina suddenly began to dissolve into black smoke, dispelling as Ben surged through the area he had once been. Ben grabbed onto the rock ledge hanging above him and pushed off before Palkia's pink meteors could crash into the rock he was holding onto.

Suddenly, with a roar, the lava went crashing upward, while a great fissure ripped itself open in the ground and rock wall! Ben screamed in surprise, though none of the lava hit him. "Hey, hey! It's not a good idea to be playing in a volcano!" he heard a bold voice shout out. "What are you doing here?"

The first thing Ben noticed was the MASSIVE golden two-handed sword, which glinted brightly from the lava's glow. A blue gem was set in its guard, also flashing, and the hilt rested in light gray fingerless gloves. He was a tall man with brown boots, gray pants, a purple tunic with gold highlights, an odd "armor" on his left chest and shoulder, and a crimson cape. His hair was purple, and a black bandanna trailed in the wind. The man's blue eyes made it clear that he would not back down from any challenge.

"Uhh…are you a cosplayer?" was the first thing Ben asked. The man's getup was rather…medieval looking, for some reason.

"NO, I AM NOT A COSPLAYER!" the man shouted with fury, raising his sword. Ben immediately knew it was time to jump, and got to an island in the lava lake before the man's blow hit the ground…but lava still went spiraling into the air all around, and Palkia had to quickly teleport Ben out, and then return him to a safe place. "I HATE it when people ask that!" the man raged, jamming his blade hard into the ground. "Maybe I should be wearing normal clothes these days…"

"Do you like playing _Fire Emblem_ games? You look a lot like a character from them-Ike, I think he was called," Ben commented, gingerly poking the cooling lava with his foot to see if it was safe to get up and move-and then yelping and recoiling because it was still hot.

The man suddenly had a humorous look, and stood upright, pulling his sword out of the ground. "Actually, that's my name," he replied. "I'm Ike."

_Must be a real _Fire Emblem_ fan,_ Ben thought. "Something's definitely wrong with his head if he thinks he's a video game character…"

"_Actually, Ben, I know this man,"_ Palkia interrupted. Ben looked up in surprise, but couldn't see Palkia, as he had turned invisible for reasons I don't feel like explaining. :P _"This is the 11__th__ Origin Captain, Ike Greil. But it's strange that he's here…"_

"WHAT? SO THIS GUY IS ACTUALLY-" Ben had to stop for a moment to keep his brain from exploding. "You're seriously an ORIGIN CAPTAIN? But why did you come here?

"I saw the explosions," Ike replied, shrugging. A guilty look immediately crossed Ben's face. "What, don't tell me you're the one responsible for them?" Ike continued, and then he suddenly narrowed his eyes at the space where Palkia was. "Okay, Palkia, what terrorism are you causing here?"

"ACK! How'd he see Palkia?" Ben gasped. He looked up himself to see for himself if Palkia had turned visible again, and found he didn't.

"_Sigh…nothing gets past these peoples' senses,"_ Palkia muttered, slowly turning visible. _"I haven't been doing much these days, seeing as Dialga hasn't been invading my dimension. But this foolish friend of mine right here,"_ he gestured at Ben, _"asked me to come here to fight him so he could get stronger. It's rather suicidal for a human to want something like that."_

"Get stronger…" A new voice, quiet but firm, came from behind Ben, and he looked up to see another man. This one had a blue cloak with gold edges and fastened with a red gem, as well as a light blue tunic (also with gold edges), black pants, black fingerless gloves extending up his wrists, and black boots. His blue hair had a golden headdress in it with a gem planted in the center, and though his face carried a calm expression, his blue eyes gleamed as though he knew lots more than any normal person could hope to in his life. "That's what many people claim they'll do, but they were never able to get near the level you're thinking of, considering you're battling Palkia."

"Yeah, what Marth said," Ike agreed. "What are you trying to do? If you're trying to prove your strength by defeating Palkia, that's pretty foolish. Palkia's too strong for a human, and _Santoryu_ is a difficult style for humans to use. I don't see why you're even bothering; you'll never-"

"You don't get why I'm doing this." Ben began to lose patience already. "You guys don't even know that your comrade-" For some reason, it didn't seem like these guys were the type Axel would team up with, so he didn't use friend- "Axel Nightblazer, IS PRACTICALLY COMMITTING SUICIDE!"

Both Ike and Marth stopped and gave him a long stare. "Excuse me?" Marth asked, his eyes beginning to show worry. "What do you mean, he's committing suicide?"

"I'm the only person who knows, huh?" Ben sighed. "Alright, he went to Mt. Coronet to battle Cipher on his own, and decided he'd do it without help. He cut off all ties from everyone else because…Cipher destroyed the Battle Frontier just to get rid of him."

"The Battle Fron…" Ike caught himself and calmed down. "Oh yeah, Ashura-our 1st Origin Captain-told us about that demonic Lugia. He warned us to be careful, because it defeated Axel. What I don't get is why Axel _wouldn't_ tell us. Surely he knows that one man-even an Aetheraean-isn't enough to beat Cipher."

"He probably did," Ben agreed, his swords seeming heavier in his hands with his powerlessness. "But he's frustrated that so many people died from something which was brought to kill _him_, and doesn't want it happening again. So he took off on his own. Thinking about it, I don't want him to look like he did yesterday, with that sad look on his face and those dull black feathers…"

"Wait." Marth's fists clenched, and his eyes immediately became wide. "_Black_ Feathers? Think about that day some more." Ben began to think of it, and opened his mouth to speak, but then Marth's hand suddenly placed itself on his forehead. Marth closed his eyes, and then opened them again. "Everything he says is true," he finally declared. "Axel's feathers…are black."

"Oh, no, not good," Ike groaned. "When Axel first obtained his _Bankai_, his feathers were black. But he became more confident in our power, and the wings turned silver with his hope. So if he's really despairing the way you say…the feathers can't shine and blacken. Which means Axel's lost his power."

"Oh no!" Ben gasped. "We should try to find him immediately…or you guys should." Already, the weight of the swords was coming back, and multiplying itself by ten. "I guess I still should be training, or giving up, seeing as you guys are the ones who have any real power to get to him."

Ike and Marth looked at each other, and then traded a look. "Now, hold on," Marth said, walking closer. "If you really are bent on saving Axel, then we can help you train."

"Wait, what?" Ben's surprise at this time was more than he'd ever felt in his life. "Shouldn't you guys be battling Cipher instead of wasting your time on a human?"

"Aeron firmly believes that no one in this world is useless," Marth replied, extending his arms. "So we should help others reach their fullest potential, shouldn't we?"

"But why do you want to save Axel so badly?" Ike asked, frowning. "I don't see him being _that_ close to anyone in your generation."

Ben was silent for a few moments, and then began his tale. "Last year, I returned to Sinnoh to clear the Sinnoh League after traveling to Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn's. But as you would know, Team Galactic arose to destroy the world. And it just happened that Axel came to Sinnoh at that time, and we teamed up to defeat Team Galactic. A lot of stuff happened which made us become closer and closer friends."

"So you were one of those friends Axel was talking about who helped him defeat Team Galactic," Marth observed with a hint of surprise. "I didn't think at first glance we were talking to one of them."

Ben didn't reply, already caught in the memories. "Axel helped me out a lot, but the time I remember most is when we invaded Galactic HQ to try to defeat them once and for all…"

* * *

_The door burst open with a burst of light which shattered the glass and left a large burn mark on the wall. The Galactic Grunts whirled in surprise, wondering just what caused it. Then three figures and their Pokémon burst into the room. They pressed buttons on the armbands they wore to send out all their Pokémon, who unleashed havoc and destroyed the room's security system swiftly._

_The Grunts tried their best to fight back, but couldn't defeat any of the three. "Sound the alarm!" a man shouted desperately, and two men ran towards the alarm._

_However, one of the invaders flicked his wrist, and two blue ropes flew from the Pokéball armband on his wrist, wrapping around the Grunt's wrists and yanking them back. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to get through me-Axel Nightblazer-to sound that alarm," the boy declared, smiling confidently._

_One of the Galactic Grunts stared at the rope. "A Pokéanchor?" he exclaimed in surprise, noticing that the rope attached itself to his own Pokéball armband._

"_That's right," Axel replied, pressing the buttons on his armband and calling back five of his Pokémon, leaving only a Pikachu. "You cannot escape unless you battle me. In addition, the loser's Pokéballs will be broken." The Pokéanchor flashed, causing a blue circle to pen him and the Grunts in. "So, shall we go?"_

"_Axel, we'll go on while you handle this one!" Ben shouted, dashing past the "arena" Axel created and into another corridor._

_The three battled and battled through Galactic HQ, and Ben suddenly found himself rounding a corner into a room with three cradles, each containing one of the three Lake Guardians-Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit. The gems on each of their bodies were glowing, red energy chaining itself between them, flowing into a pillar in the middle of the room. And standing in front of that pillar was…Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic! "HEY! It's you!" Ben shouted. "The Evil Overlord of Team Galactic!"_

"_Heh heh…evil?" Cyrus chuckled. "That depends very much on your view of 'good' and 'evil.' But in reality, there is no such thing. That is only the heart's illusions playing tricks on you. But you're too late." He typed a few keys, and Ben's eyes darted to a fourth cradle. This one had a chain of red gems inside it, red energy shaping their facets. The finished gems were identical to those inside the pillar._

_Suddenly, Ben realized what was happening, and the realization made him gasp. "You demon! Taking the gems of the Lake Guardians like that? That's like cutting off a Pokémon's arm! It's inhumane!"_

_Cyrus __began to laugh at this. "You don't see the grand scheme of things, boy!" The pillar in the center slid away, revealing the chain suspended in midair. Cyrus reached over and held it in his left hand. "__With this, the Red Chain made from the crystals of the three Lake Guardians," he declared triumphantly. Then he went over to open the cradle, and held that chain in his right hand. "And this, the Red Chain I replicated with technological means... With these Red Chains I will pry open the portal to another dimension."_

"_But what's the point?" Ben demanded. "Why'd you just slice their gems just for that fancy necklace?"_

"_It's not a 'fancy necklace,'" Cyrus retorted, a Slasher Smile spreading across his face. "Both these Red Chains will bind Dialga and Palkia, forcing them into this world under my control. At that moment, all will end. And everything will begin! That's the Red Chain's power!"_

"_Unforgivable!" Ben raged, raising his armband. "No mercy for you!" He thrust his hand out, and the green Pokéanchor spiraled out, wrapping around Cyrus' armband. But then, Cyrus just smirked and twisted his wrist, revealing…his Pokéball armband had no Pokéballs!_

"_I thought you'd do that," Cyrus taunted. "That's why I don't use the armband. But what was the point of still wearing it, you're wondering? Now I can do THIS!" In a lightning fast move, before Ben's Pokéanchor could bring up the barrier, Cyrus turned, firmly grasping the Red Chains, and charged out the window._

_Ben gasped in surprise, and tried to plant his feet on the floor, but by some ungodly power, Cyrus exceeded his strength. The leader of Team Galactic leaped all the way to the next building, dragging Ben by the Pokéanchor. Ben shouted as he was yanked out of Galactic HQ. Growling, he began to pull on the rope to get closer to the building…Except then Cyrus took off his armband and let it drop. "Farewell, boy. You would have made a great opponent. But it seems I can't let you oppose me anymore."_

"_Oh, no…" Ben gasped as he began to drop. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Out of nowhere, a blue rope suddenly lashed around Ben's wrist. Ben yelped as his fall was suddenly broken, then his eyes followed the rope and saw that it was Axel who was pulling him up. "Wha-Axel?" he shouted in surprise._

"_Oh?" Cyrus raised an eyebrow, amused. "You wish to save the Lake Guardians _and_ your 'friend' at the same time? Pathetic. Then be dragged down together." Before Axel knew it, he was being dragged lower and lower, the window frame and wall bending beneath his weight!_

"_Axel, stop!" Ben shouted desperately, watching Axel strain himself more and more to pull him up. Suddenly the window frame broke, causing Axel to drop quickly. Both Axel and Ben screamed, almost plunging over the side, but Axel caught on barely in time. "Let me go!" Ben hollered. "Save yourself! Or else you'll get dragged down with m-"_

"_DON'T BE STUPID!" Axel screamed defiantly. Ben's words halted in surprise at this. "I would never just abandon you!" Axel continued, planting a foot firmly on the wall and grabbing onto the remains of the windowsill, pulling himself up. "Because…" Axel winced from the pain, but kept pulling himself up, his Pokémon trying to help him. "YOU'RE MY FRIEND, BEN!"_

_Ben was stunned with surprise for several moments, before planting his feet on the wall and climbing up. After what seemed like an eternity, Axel was able to reach down and pull Ben back to safety. The two boys lay there, trying to relax their aching muscles. Ben finally managed a shaky smile to Axel and his Pokémon and gasped, "Thanks, Axel…everyone." Axel was too exhausted to speak, but he grinned and gave Ben a thumbs-up. The rest of Axel's Pokémon smiled as well._

_Cyrus snarled at seeing Ben survive. "Relying on friends…how pathetic. But it doesn't matter. I am off to Mt. Coronet. I will ascend the mountain to its peak and put an end to everything... No. I will bring about a new beginning for everything..." With this, he retreated into the building, and a helicopter with Team Galactic's symbol on it flew from behind it, carrying him away to Mt. Coronet._

"_So the Evil Overlord's off to Mt. Coronet, eh?" Ben groaned, as soon as he was sure he had enough strength to move again. "Whatever. Let's get him, Axel!"_

"_Yeah!" Axel nodded, and the two got up to round up Chris and head to Mt. Coronet themselves._

* * *

"So that's your story," Ike murmured, nodding. "Axel saved you that many times on your way?"

Ben nodded at this, a sad look on his face. "Except for battling and catching Palkia, I think Axel probably thought I was dead weight…"

"No, that's probably not the case," Marth interjected. "Axel probably couldn't have gone into the Distortion World without your help. I mean, even for an Aetheraean, it's very difficult to get past Palkia _and_ Dialga simultaneously. You've done him more good than you'd think. But now you must ask yourself: Do you really want to get stronger so you can save Axel Nightblazer?"

"Well, I'd have to be crazy to say no to that!" Ben exclaimed, already standing up. "Unless this is all a hallucination, in which case I'd be crazy anyway."

"Good thing you're not hallucinating, then!" Ike replied, hefting his sword. "If you want that power so badly, then we'll hammer it into you!"

* * *

The next few days were (figuratively) spent in Hell. Ike would spar with him, and he was EXTREMELY strong, so Ben always ended up gasping for breath at the end. Next, Marth would try to teach him new swordplay tricks, but Marth was far faster than him and Ben constantly struggled. At the end of each day, his muscles screamed in pain. Yet Ben never gave up, for Axel's sake.

However, it was during Ben's last training session that he found how he could achieve his wish.

* * *

That day, Ben was crossing steel with Ike once again. Ike created a fissure in the earth, but Ben jumped away before it could reach him. Then Ben pulled the sheathed _Wado Ichimonji_ from his belt, held it behind him and charged to strike again. As he neared Ike, he prepared to perform _Shishi Sonson…_

Ike raised his blade and slammed it EXACTLY where Ben was swinging it, and whirled in a counterattack, smashing him into the ground. _"Shishi Sonson…_the _Ittoryu_ draw-and-resheath technique. I'm surprised you know so much about _Ittoryu, Nitoryu, and Santoryu _(One/two/three sword style, respectively)."

"Yeah," Ben grunted, pulling himself back up. "They've been passed down through my family-the Roronoas-for generations."

"Well then, considering your name is Roronoa, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised…" Ike replied, although Ben could tell he was a bit surprised about his name.

"So what do you guys plan to do with me?" Ben suddenly asked. "You're training me on the level of an _Aetheraean_. I thought you-specifically you, Ike-wouldn't have so much faith."

Ike was a bit baffled, and Ben figured it was because he had figured it out so quickly. Then Ike finally composed himself and replied, "At any rate, Marth seems to have a great deal of confidence in you. But he says you have an unusually large amount of _reaitsu_ on you…"

"What? _Me?_" Ben was absolutely stunned by this. "I've never felt like I have special spiritual powers!"

"That's what most people tell us when they have so much and yet can't see spirits," Ike replied. "Yours are totally unfocused, but Marth believes with refinement we can make you a greater warrior with those powers." Ben glanced down at _Wado Ichimonji_, and suddenly noticed an odd tingling in his right hand he'd never noticed before. Had he felt it but never noticed up to this point? He contemplated it for a few minutes before Ike broke his concentration. "But enough about that. Well, shall we go aga-"

But he never got to finish his sentence. At that moment, a large slash suddenly drew across his chest. Both Ike and Ben stared at this, perplexed by the blast of red that gushed from it. Then Ike staggered and fell to the ground. "IKE!" Ben shouted in horror. But then there was a sharp pain in his back, and he followed quickly. "What the hell…" he groaned.

"What's going on?" Marth shouted, running over. Earlier, he had been reading a book while they trained, but he tossed the book away at that moment. "Who attacked you?"

"I have no idea…" Ben replied through clenched teeth, dragging himself upward. "That cut just appeared on Ike out of nowhere…"

"Out of nowhere?" Marth's face went pale. "Oh, no, no, no, GET BACK!" He grabbed Ben and Ike and yanked them into the shadows. But as he was doing so, another cut appeared on Ben's ankle. Ben let out a howl of pain, but noticed that no more cuts were appearing after a few minutes.

"That sword…" Ike growled as he tried to use healing spells on himself. "Don't tell me it's _THAT_ one…"

"No, probably a replica," Marth replied. "But still a great danger to us nonetheless." He turned to Ben, the fear still on his face. "Ben…I recognize that power. As long as the target is in the sunlight and within 15 meters around the wielder, it will be able to cut them."

"What kind of power is that?" Ben shouted, but then a jet of water sent him flying out of the shadows. Marth dragged him back, but already Ben's arm took another hit. "Wait, water?" Ben gasped. "Then that means…Cipher Admin Luna!" He leapt to his feet immediately. "Okay, Luna, show yourself!"

Luna's ice cold voice didn't change even when she was out of sight. "I don't need to do that to kill you. You're just trash with no talent. After I've killed you, I'll attack your friends with all my might." After she spoke the words, a blast of water jetted from the trees outside the volcano and smashed Ben in the chest, but Ben held onto a rock to stop himself from leaving the darkness again.

"Curse you!" Ben growled, jumping to his feet again and redrawing his three swords. "You're despicable! I won't forgive you!" Ignoring Marth's warning, he charged out of the shadows to attack Luna. Luna watched him come, and then pulled from behind her a dull gray blade with a guard shaped like an X inside a circle, the ends of the X protruding out of it diagonal to the blade. She made a swift motion-and then Ben's back screamed in pain. He staggered to the ground, and Luna raised her normal sword…

But then Marth appeared in front of her, and his blade was flashing with a bright silver light up towards her. Luna tried to block, but Marth smashed his blade, pointed towards the sky, into both of hers and went soaring into the sky, slamming her back with the force. The light on Marth's blade faded, and he dropped into the shadows. "Another enemy?" Luna growled. "Who do you think you are?"

Not replying, Marth closed his eyes and began to swing his blade in a circle in front of himself. And then…something peculiar happened. As Marth's sword traced through the air, afterimages trailed it and solidified from ghostly apparitions to vibrantly colored blades a second later. "My name is Marth," he replied, still swinging his sword around himself. "And I am an Origin Captain-one of Cipher's greatest enemies." He finally opened his eyes and twirled his sword, and the blades of light around him flashed, arranging themselves into a battle stance. "Shall we fight?"

Luna didn't reply, but instead summoned water from the trees to her blade. Ben was worried about Marth at first, but then he suddenly noticed what was happening to the trees: From having all their water pulled out, they were withering and dying. _What a cruel power!_ Ben cringed as each leaf slowly crumpled and turned brown. But Marth was undaunted, and jumped from the shadows, thrusting out his blade. All the others around him flashed forward at the same time, and Luna had to create a barrier of water to block it. When the blades touched the water, though…they distorted into twisting shapes, and when they came out of the water, they splayed in wild directions!

Marth cursed and dashed to the side, raising his sword and calling blue light to it. "It doesn't matter what defense you have. This sword-_Islinger-_will slash it apart! Pierce! _Shiirudo Bureika!_ (Shield Breaker)" He stabbed the wall of water with the tip of his blade, where the blue light was brightest, and then blue light pulsed through the water…and then it collapsed_._ Luna was surprised for about 1/1000 of a second, before swinging both swords, and causing Marth to be slashed in the back, then swept away by a wave.

But then a golden blade went flying up behind Luna, and Ike jumped to catch it. _"Sol!_ (Sun)" he shouted, spinning through the air and slashing Luna numerous times. Then he slammed her back down to earth, jumped back as suddenly the wound from Luna's other sword healed. Ike raised his sword and charged again, but Luna dodged and blasted him away with water, then slashed him three times with her other sword before he went flying into the shadows.

"_Sanjuroku Pound Ho!"_ Ben shouted, and swung _Wado Ichimonji_, sending Luna flying next to Ike from the blast of air. Ike began to attack her, safely in the shadows. However, then Luna counterattacked with twin whips of water and knocked Ike into the light. "Oh no, Ike!" Ben shouted.

Ike just grinned. "Come at me. _Luna!_ (Moon)" At first, Ben thought he was saying Luna's name, but Ike swung his sword upward, struck Luna and _destroyed_ the blast of water she was preparing along with knocking her far away, jumped high into the air, and backflipped back into the shadow. "Next?" Ike asked, hefting his sword. "Let's see if you can actually fight me, huh?"

"I'll respond with delight to that challenge," Luna replied, slashing with her normal sword. A burst of water shot from it, diagonally cutting the trees and rocks above Ike and causing them to fall. Noticing the shadows shifting so he'd be out of them in a second, Ike used _Luna_ to jump away, destroying more of the falling trees in the process. Luna whirled to where Ike had gone and unleashed three similar bursts, cutting down more trees. Ike watched them fall, then brought his sword to his shoulder and rushed forward while slashing, neatly cutting the falling debris and rushing into safety.

Summoning a wave of water once more, Luna brought it down and crushed the trees like sticks, then pulled Ike and the large amounts of debris forcibly out of the shadows and raised her sword to slash him again. The water and drifting wood and stone hindered Ike's movement, and he wasn't able to get back to shade in time before he got slashed. "This is just _crap_," Ike groaned, pulling himself back behind the trees. "God, how could my day get worse?"

"Like this!" Luna replied, raising her special sword again. "I'll show you some true swordsmanship no-"

"It's unwise to take your eyes off an enemy. _Dansingu Burēdo!_ (Dancing Blade)" With these words ringing out, _Islinger_'s tip cut into Luna's shoulder, flashing red. Marth didn't waste any time, and his sword-now blue this time-flew back up, slashing Luna across the stomach, and back down into her shoulder again. Then he whirled it back over his head, and back upwards towards her in a great blue circle, launching her upwards into the air. Luna swung her normal sword and blasted water, but Marth dodged and held _Islinger's _hilt at his hip, its tip pointed at Luna. "_Dorufin Surasshu!_ (Dolphin Slash)_"_ he shouted, swinging his sword upward and flying up after it, stabbing Luna and blasting her away again.

"Nice one, Marth!" Ike shouted, kicking off a rock skyward. "Now let's get her for real this time!"

But neither of them were able to reach Luna in time, with either _Sol_ or _Dorufin Surasshu_, before she brought a cascade of water from the clouds to slow them down, then in the midst of the scattering light, she unleashed a frenzy of slashes with her special sword and drenched the ground with both water, and the two Origin Captains' blood. "Looks like you weren't enough to stop me with this new sword," Luna commented. "I never thought it would be this easy to stop any of you-most of all Nightblazer." She prepared the finishing blow with both swords…

At this moment, Ben was watching from the shadows with fury-at Luna and himself. _Why can't I do anything again? Not just for Axel, but now for Marth and Ike, too! Why do I always end up seeing my friends being hurt in front of me, and not being able to do a thing to stop it? Why…? _Instinctively, he reached for _Wado Ichimonji's_ hilt. He probably would be torn to shreds if he did anything now…but what else could he do? _At least I might be able to buy them time to escape, so they can hurry away to help Aeron and the others…_ But then that tingle from _Wado Ichimonji _pulsed through his hand again, stopping him in mid-stride. _Again? What's this?_

Pulling _Wado Ichimonji_ out of its hilt, he looked at it, and his own reflection in the ivory blade. But something was completely different from last time he had done this. It seemed to gleam brighter, and even in the shadows, his reflection was full of vivid color. _Why is it different this time, then?_ he asked himself. The blade suddenly began to glow with a white light, and as Ben stared into it, he suddenly felt as though the blade were talking to him-to stand up to Luna, regardless of the doubts he had now. "So that's what you want, eh?" Ben muttered. "Alright then…let's go, _Wado Ichimonji!_"

Swiftly, he charged out of the shadows and swung _Wado Ichimonji_ at Luna. The Admin was surprised and had to stop her killing blow on Marth and Ike to block his attack. "So you're interfering again? It'll be the last time for _that_!" Luna shouted, raising her special sword again-but this time Ben _completely_ changed his style. Drawing _Sandai Kitetsu _and _Shusui_ at the same time, as well as throwing _Wado Ichimonji_ into the air and catching it in his mouth, he began a rapid and relentless barrage of slashes aimed specifically at the sword, so Luna would have no opportunities to use it to slash Marth and Ike.

Almost unable to keep up with the onslaught of swift and decisive blows, Luna desperately launched blasts of water, but Ben spun out of the way of each one, and at the same time used that momentum to keep attacking! Then Ben swung _Shusui_ one more time at the special sword…_and it shattered!_ "Whoa!" Ben shouted; he didn't expect it'd just break into a million pieces like that.

"What?" Luna, Marth, and Ike all shouted at once. The fragments of the sword clattered to the ground, useless now. None of them believed what they saw. "What trick did you just use?" Luna demanded, summoning a wave of water and attempting to wash Ben away.

Ben watched the wave come, and then thrust _Sandai Kitetsu_ forward, and the wall of water collapsed right in front of him! "That sword wasn't much to mine," Ben commented, looking down at his swords. "You know, they always say two heads are better than one. Don't you think the same applies to swords, be it two or three?" He began to run towards Luna, avoiding each stream of water and cutting the ones he couldn't in half. "Each of my three swords has their own strengths! They're a match for any weapon, even yours!" Before Luna could believe it, he was upon her, swords pointed in front of him. "_Ushi Bari!"_

As Ben charged and struck Luna multiple times with his blades, Marth was slowly beginning to understand. "I get it now! I never took a great look at his sword while we were training with him. That sword…it's _Wado Ichimonji!_ And it's a very powerful Eihrisingrr!"

"Eihrisingrr?" Ben repeated, still fighting. "What is that? Is it some kind of _Zanpaku-to?_"

"Not a _Zanpaku-to_," Ike replied. "It's a magic sword forged with the strongest of steel, and enchanted with Aetherean spells. Over time, more incantations are added, and the Eihrisingrr slowly begins to develop its very own 'soul.' But to think this one has been under our noses for a while and we didn't even notice…that's embarrassing." He hefted his sword as he pushed upright. "Marth and I have Eihrisingrrs as well. For some reason, when someone obtains a _Zanpaku-to_ or an Eihrisingrr…almost every time, they never get the other."

"Enough talk!" Luna shouted, unleashing another wave. "This is a battle, not a lecture! Not paying attention will get you nowhere!"

"Yeah?" Ike replied, standing at full height and raising the massive two-handed sword over his head. "Well, Ragnell and I still have a lot of fight left in us!" And he plunged Ragnell into the ground, and a fissure etched its way through the ground. Then, magma exploded out of it, surging towards Luna!

"Whoa! Molten Magma!" Ben shouted, jumping back. (Redundant language FTW! XD) "Ike has this kind of power?"

"Ike's strong enough to crack the earth," Marth replied, holding his sword out and once again swinging it through the air, causing ghostly replicas to appear. "Try to duel this, Luna!" Using _Dansingu Burēdo_ once more, he unleashed another furious combo at Luna, who was still trying to dodge the magma. He swung Islinger down glowing red, smashing hard against her sword, pulled it back and swept it at her from the side, brought it over his head and down, and then stabbing at Luna multiple times in the span of one second. And all the dancing swords around Marth slashed where his physical sword couldn't, injuring Luna even more. The Admin, furious, prepared to unleash a stream of water, forgetting Ben…

"Didn't you just hear that it was unwise to take your eyes off an enemy?" she heard from behind. Turning with horror, she realized Ben was holding his swords at his shoulders, and his head was facing away from her, to the right. "_Oni…GIRI_!" The three blades slashed Luna all at once, creating deep wounds where they hit.

Luna gasped and stared at the blood. "Im…possible…" she groaned, and fell from the air to ground.

Ben sighed in relief, but he and Marth were panting hard. "What a troublesome ability," Marth sighed. "It's hard even for me to fight."

"Say, your swords-Ragnell and Islinger-have special powers, right?" Ben asked. "Ragnell can split the earth and control the flow of magma, and Islinger can create apparitions of blades…this may make me sound like a power craver, but what's my power?"

Marth ran his fingers across _Wado Ichimonji_. "You witnessed it, Ben. _Wado Ichimonji_ means 'Straight Road of the Harmony.' True to its name, it finds the resonant frequency of anything it touches within a few hits, and then emits energy with that frequency which harmonizes with the target and can deal critical damage to it in a few seconds. You used that to destroy the sword. In addition, _Wado Ichimonji_ harmonizes itself with your other swords, using your body as a transmitter to give them the same energy needed to destroy your opponent's defenses."

"What an amazing power…" Ben frowned a bit, remembering how Ike originally had thought his idea was a bad one because he was a normal human. "Won't the effects decrease for me because I'm a human, and you're Aethereans?"

"_Wado Ichimonji_ will follow any master, no matter if they are Aetherean or human," Marth replied, smiling. "Is this the power you want to save Axel with?"

"I didn't know what power to expect, but I think I'll be able to be of more use with it," Ben replied, grinning.

Meanwhile, Ike caught Luna and laid her on the ground, then muttered a few words, and Luna's cuts started healing. "Wait, what are you doing?" Ben asked, watching him cause her to recover. "Isn't she our enemy? I thought you guys wouldn't give her mercy at all…"

"We're Origin Captains," Ike replied flatly. "We're not butchers." And that was all he said.

Niko and Ben's Pokémon scurried over at this moment. "We saw all the water acting weird. What happened?" Niko asked.

"We fought a Cipher Admin," Ben replied. Then he looked at _Wado Ichimonji, _the sword which had just saved him in this fight. "And Niko?" The Mouse Pokémon looked up at him, and Ben held up the Eihrisingrr. "I think I'm stronger now."

* * *

_Mt. Coronet…_

Black feathers engulfed the Cipher Peons and knocked them unconscious. Axel descended, gazing upon the ruination, and turned away. But suddenly, something throbbed, and he was down on his knees, gasping. Grimacing, he used one of _Doki no Shiruba Getsu's_ swords like a cane to keep moving.

Axel kept walking before noticing numerous broken pillars lying on the ground in front of him, and a roof with crumbling ornate designs hung above him. He limped onto the broken stones and entered the hall, noticing a mottled purple crystal inside. It was shaped like a diamond, and energy flowed out of it through a skylight to a location higher up the mountain. Axel narrowed his eyes at the crystal, and then he swung his other sword, his _reiatsu_ flashing into the crystal. But the mottled purple would not leave…

Axel swung again and again, and soon the purple gave way to bright white. He felt his remaining energy dwindle, but kept going. Then finally, the entire crystal turned white, and the room was bathed in its light, beating away the fog.

Now safe from the fog, Axel laid down, and something in the center of his chest glowed midnight blue. The crystal flashed in response, and a beam of energy began to emit from the glowing in Axel's chest to it. The black wings, Axel's coat and _daitos_ turned into black smoke and transformed into the sealed _Shiruba-Getsu_, but without its silver-blue glow. Axel lay in the chamber for a long time, connecting with the crystal to regain energy, unaware he was faintly broadcasting his position across Sinnoh…

* * *

_Stark Mountain…_

Ben suddenly noticed the trace of _reiatsu_ that pierced the air ever so briefly. "Hey, is that _reiatsu_…" he began. Sensing a second pulse, and the energy which it radiated, he realized it _was_, in fact, Axel Nightblazer's. "Where did it come from?" Excited, he jumped up and raced to a rocky peak at the top of the volcano, where winds of pure air swept past him, tasting wonderful compared to the ash-filled air he had been breathing before. A third pulse rippled through the clear air…

"What are you doing up here?" Ike asked, trudging after him with an annoyed look. "You look like a boy on Christmas Day, eager to open up his presents."

"I sensed Axel's _reiatsu_," Ben replied, and Ike stopped short with surprise. Then another wave passed over, and Ike relaxed, knowing Ben was right. "The pulse came from there…" Ben raised his hand, but his voice trailed off when he found his finger pointing at the fog-covered Mt. Coronet. "So he's still there, huh?" Ben sighed. "But that fog…it reeks of hatred, I feel. It seems absolutely forbidding…"

"And didn't you say that you'd go any distance for Axel?" Marth demanded, walking swiftly up the jagged rocks without stabbing himself somehow. "If you truly will do that, then you have to abandon your fear. With the power you now have, we can focus on reaching Axel now. Can you handle that?"

"Yeah!" Ben replied. But then he thought about something else. "Wait, can Axel really get all his power back that easily?"

"No," Ike replied, shaking his head. "It's really not simple to restore an Aetheraean's _reiatsu_. It's very time consuming to do so…time we don't have."

Ben's heart sank, but then he remembered the headphones on his head and got an idea. "Wait, I know! Guys, I have an idea. Can't we give another person's _reiatsu_ to Axel in order to restore his own?"

"Do you have any idea how much _reiatsu_ that would take?" Marth looked at Ben as if he were suggesting they build a monument to Cipher. "Besides, Axel has an unusually large capacity for energy. You wouldn't be able to produce nearly enough to do that, Ben…not for an Aetheraean."

"Not just me!" Ben argued. "You guys, too! We'll get the _reiatsu_ of all of Axel's friends in these headphones, and then give them to him so it'll restore his power to full!"

"That's a good plan," Ike nodded. "But when you give _reiatsu_ to an Aetheraean, the different _reiatsu_ blends, and they create entirely new power. So Axel will be more powerful than ever before with these."

"Alright! Let's get to it, then!" Ben declared.

* * *

**Random Bonus Story…XD**

**Before we begin this story, I will have you all know: Aeron has his birthday this month (July)! :D So I wrote this short for him as a present. Hope you enjoy it (especially if your penname is Aeron Solo)!**

* * *

Explosions rocked the street in Gotham City. And soon after, a man with green hair, white skin, and a purple suit came running out of the exploding bank, laughing maniacally. He was carrying a box of stolen valuables and money. "Ahhhh, what a night!" he cackled.

But then, suddenly, a blast of lightning forced him to stop his escape. He turned with surprise towards where the lightning came from, and saw Aeron standing on the rooftop above him. "Had enough laughs, Joker?" he asked, swinging his blade again, this time coated with fire. "I hope you have…because soon, the only smile you'll be seeing is the one in the mirror of your cell in Arkham!"

Joker was astonished with the blast of fire that headed towards him, and ran for it. "Who's this?" he wondered as he ran down a back alley. "Never heard of there being new heroes in Gotham."

"I'm not new, and I'm not a hero like you're thinking of," he suddenly heard behind him. Immediately, he turned to see Aeron charging at him from behind. "But I'm still here to give you a fight which should be a lot of fun for someone like you!"

At this moment, Batman and Robin (you know who they are, I hope, because I'm running out of descriptive language) came running into the street, only to find Aeron beating the crap out of the Joker in the alley. "Hey, who's that?" Robin asked, pointing at Aeron.

"I don't know," Batman replied, shrugging. "I guess Gotham has new heroes. I suppose we can take this time to get Two-Face while this guy deals with Joker…"

* * *

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Bowser laughed, ripping through the wall of the Mushroom Kingdom Castle. "Now Peach is m-"

But then, in a flash of lightning, Aeron was bearing down on Bowser. "Hey, it's not nice to smash walls down," he called, releasing _Tsubasa no Rai-oh_. "Seriously, cut it out, Bowser."

"Ha! I'll easily take you down!" Bowser retorted, making a tackle towards Aeron. Except the very next moment, he was flying out of the castle. "WHAT? NOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

_An entire day's worth of enemies later…_

The sun was setting fast, and Aeron was limping back home, completely exhausted. "Ugh…too many enemies today…can't wait for a rest…" He opened the door, and was met with absolute darkness. "What the-? Why are the lights out? Better turn them back on…" Aeron found the light switch and pressed it, and the room was lit again. "That's better-WHAT THE HELL?"

All of Aeron's friends were gathered in the room (Eddie was STANDING ON THE CEILING), and there was a huge cake in the middle of the room. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY AERON!" they all shouted.

*insert loud screaming here*

*insert thud here*

"…" Axel stared at Aeron, who was a bit _too_ surprised by them and fainted from the shock. "…maybe we overdid it." He went to turn off the lights. The room plunged into darkness…and then Axel turned them on again, to find that EVERYTHING (including the cake) was gone. "Huh," Axel commented, and turned them off and on again. And EVERYTHING was back in the room. "Okay, WTF guys?" Axel shouted.

* * *

**Looks like Aeron (the character) didn't have a good day…well, Happy Birthday in real life, Aeron! (I'll try to ruin it as much as possible. *trollface*)**

**Anyway, now the entire main cast has epic powers! Yay! Although you really have to wonder what will happen next to Axel…Ben better be quick about his plan.**

**I can't place a link to Alo[n]e in the chapter; you'll have to go to my profile for that. :/**

**I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about Ike and Marth (who, coincidentally, are Aeron and my most-used characters in **_**Super Smash Bros. Brawl**_**, respectively), except for what they did in **_**Brawl**_**, and because people complain so much about how Ike was portrayed in that game, I may have earned myself hate from fans of the series. I do my best, people! :C (curses Aeron for making Origin Captains based on **_**Fire Emblem **_**characters and possibly ruining my Fan Service)**

**Is anyone tired of hearing about my Fan Service yet? :3**


	37. An Elemental Falls

_At the Battle Frontier…_

The rising sun was obscured by the Battle Tower, now standing proud and strong, even after it had been torn to pieces by Demon Lugia. Under its shadow, the Origin Captains, Kotone and Silver were taking a rest. "We did it," Ashura sighed, gazing around at the completely rebuilt Battle Frontier, which looked as grand as it did before the storm that occurred five days ago.

"Yeah. It was tough, but we finally got it done," Salvo agreed, patting him on the back.

Rosie drew her sword. "Now that we've done this, we can perform _konso_ on the people that died her and allow them to go to Soul Societ-"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAIT!"

All four Origin Captains looked up in surprise, and then they saw a motorcycle shoot from behind the hill which led to the Battleground. It crashed onto the road, but kept going until it screeched to a halt right in front of them. Then a young man with green hair jumped off and went straight up to them. "Whoa, Ben!" Kotone shouted in surprise. "What are you doing…" Her voice trailed off. The serious look on Ben's face-one of determination and desperation-didn't make him look the same as she had last seen.

"Are you Origin Captains?" Ben asked breathlessly to the four Origin Captains. Dumbfounded, they nodded. But what truly surprised them was that this boy was wearing battered silver and blue headphones-and they knew who those belonged to. Kotone and Silver noticed as well, and also gasped. "Good," the boy sighed, taking the headphones off. "I need to ask you guys a favor for Axel."

"Wait, a favor for Axel?" Annabelle asked. "Do you mean Axel Nightblazer?" The boy nodded. "Who are you?"

It was at that point that Marth and Ike suddenly appeared in front of them, having used _Shun-po_ to catch up with the motorcycle. "This is a friend of Axel's," Marth replied. "His name is Ben, and he wants to save Axel, but he needs your help to do it."

"Marth! Ike!" Ashura was a bit surprised to see those two Origin Captains…with a human. "Are you sure we can trust him? He's only a h-"

Ben's shoulders were about to sag at the last sentence, but Ike stepped forward and cut into the conversation. "This _human_ shouldn't be treated like any other, Ashura. He's perfectly aware that this invasion of Cipher's will become a battle between higher beings eventually, and yet he still charges in for Axel's sake. Besides, he's clearly committed to helping us. Now go and tell me we can't trust him."

Ashura traded a look with Salvo, Rosie and Annabelle. Then he looked back at Silver and Kotone. Both of them seemed to believe in him. "You have that much faith in him?" Ashura asked, glancing at both Marth and Ike, who nodded. "I guess I can only go along with it, then. What can we help you with, Ben?"

Ben held up the headphones. "I need your spiritual power. Axel's loss defeat has caused him to get depressed, and then _that_ made his _Bankai_ return to an incomplete-"

"Wait, incomplete?!" Salvo repeated. "Things are that bad already?!"

"It gets worse," Ben continued. "You know that weird black mist around Mt. Coronet? Is it dangerous at all?"

"It's miasma," Ashura replied. "It's a toxic, corrosive gas which appears in the Distortion World when the fabric of space-time has been damaged. This is hazardous to all life; if you inhale it, your life functions are impaired, and if you have spiritual powers, they also weaken over time in it. In other words, being in miasma is akin to a slow and painful death. If you're planning to go there, then-"

"I have to," Ben replied, and by looking at him one would have to wonder if anything Ashura said had bothered him in the slightest. "I was the only one who saw that Axel went…alone…to Mt. Coronet. And a little while ago, a few waves of his _reiatsu_ came from the mountain, which means he's definitely still there. You probably sensed them, didn't you?"

"We didn't," Ashura replied. "It's also hard to sense _reiatsu_ in miasma. There was probably a fluctuation at that moment in the miasma covering Mt. Coronet, but the waves passed barely able to be felt-and most prominently felt where you were. Anyway, if Axel's there…yeah, everything just became a lot worse. We temporarily defeated Demon Lugia, but Cipher carried him off in that direction, so Axel may end up fighting him again. And if that happens in his current state, it won't go well for Axel." Ben began to worry already, but Ashura cut him off: "Don't worry, Ben, Axel's not _that_ stupid. He'll be able to survive long enough if he fights Demon Lugia. And you have our support, don't you?"

"Wait, you guys seriously are going along with this?" Ben asked, surprised. _I didn't think it would be that easy…_ The Origin Captains, Kotone and Silver nodded. "Okay!" Ben was pleased that his plan was going this smoothly, and held up the headphones. "Can you guys put your _reiatsu_ into these? I put mine in, and so did Marth and Ike, but that won't be enough for Axel…And, I can't see spirits yet, but you haven't performed _Konso_, have you?"

"We were about to when you interrupted," Rosie replied. "Why does this matter?"

"Can you ask them to put their _reiatsu_ in as well before you send them off to Soul Society?" Ben asked. "I don't know how to do that."

"That might be a bit hard, but I can do it," Ashura declared. He put his hand on the headphones, and azure blue energy flowed between them. Looking at the headphones as this happened, Ben thought for a moment the scratches began to disappear, but didn't quite. "May I take these?" Ashura asked, pulling the headphones from Ben's grip. "I'll need them to put the _reiatsu_ of the dead in."

Salvo walked over and placed his own hand on them, as did Rosie and Annabelle. Verdant green, bright crimson, and soft lavender filled the air as they each transferred their own power inside. Then Ashura left with the headphones and walked around the Frontier for a few minutes, seemingly doing conversations with thin air. Several minutes later, Ashura returned. "Sorry it took so long; here you go."

When Ben touched the headphones, he was surprised when he felt the sheer amount of power inside them- and the many different kinds of energy inside. "Whoa," he breathed.

"Hey wait, we haven't done anything yet!" Kotone suddenly shouted, and ran over, almost slamming her hand on the headphones and knocking them out of Ben's grip. Silver, muttering something about how Kotone was _really_ not paying attention, followed and put some of his in as well. Now a green glow and a silver one entered the headphones. "Hope it helps Axel," Kotone told him, smiling encouragingly. "Also, do you think we could come with you as well? We can't do anything else here, so we'll help you."

"Thanks, guys," Ben smiled. "This'll help a lot…anyway, I'd better get going! Bye!"

"Good luck!" Ashura called as Ben ran off with Kotone and Silver. "We hope you succeed! Don't let Axel down!"

* * *

When Ben finally arrived at the shore, he brought out his Empoleon to surf over to Snowpoint (because the ferry was destroyed in the carnage, and he forgot to get a flying Pokémon), he tried to check something on his Pokétch. However, the churning waters caused him to stumble. Empoleon groaned as he struggled to stay above the waves. "Hang in there, Empoleon!" Ben shouted encouragingly.

"I don't think he's going to make it," Kotone murmured worriedly as she watched from the back of her Tropius. Silver, held by Charizard, also watched with concern.

Suddenly, the waves began to calm. "And that's the reason why Aetherean Magic makes everything better," Ike declared, snapping his fingers as he flew above the waves. "Don't ask us to teach you, by the way. We don't have time for that kind of thing."

"I wasn't planning on it," Ben replied, as Empoleon resumed surfing. He began checking through his email on his Pokétch…

"Wait, what are you looking at?" Marth asked, looking at the Pokétch.

"I'm checking if Anabel got my message; last thing I remember, she was still in Eterna City," Ben replied. "I wanted her to meet me at Snowpoint, so I don't have to make so many stops. Ending up at Snowpoint to change my party to have a flying Pokémon, then flying to Eterna, and then Oreburgh will take too long. This way, we can save some time. Understand, guys?"

"It will take time for her to get from Eterna to Snowpoint in the first place," Marth replied. "I don't think you should count on her being back so soon. Maybe you should just take the flight."

"Well, I guess that's true," Ben sighed.

* * *

_TOTALLY contrary to what Marth just said…_

Anabel sighed as she stared out the window of the hotel room she got in Snowpoint, looking out towards the sea. "Does Ben usually run this far behind schedule?" she asked, turning away from the frost-covered window.

"You can't blame him, the ferries aren't here, so I'd assume they were destroyed by that 'Demon Lugia' your friends messaged you about," Cynthia replied, lounging in an armchair. "But Ben's a reliable guy. He might not make it on time, but he'll arrive without fail."

"_I_ hope," Anabel muttered doubtfully. When Cynthia gave her an annoyed look, Anabel sighed and continued. "Cynthia, Chris came back to Eterna, and Silver and Kotone sent messages that they were alright and repairing the Battle Frontier with the Origin Captains who made a timely arrival. But we got no messages from Ben, and none of our friends knew where he was. Anything could have happened between the time he sent the message and now. Why, Demon Lugia might have wiped him out on his way here! How can you be so certain he'll arrive alright _this_ time?"

Cynthia put a hand on her head and groaned. "You just can't trust him for once, can you?" She got up and smiled reassuringly. "It's okay. You remember that incident with Dialga and Palkia? He got through _that_ alive. Is it so hard to believe now?"

"…okay, I'll trust your judgement," Anabel sighed reluctantly. "So, should we head to the meeting place right now, or should we wait a bit longer?"

"Let's wait a bit," Cynthia replied, standing up. "In the meantime, have you been to Snowpoint Temple?"

"That's the place where Articryo's Sanctuary is, isn't it? And no, I haven't been there before," Anabel replied, shaking her head.

"Well, maybe I could show you the place; since you're an Elemental yourself, maybe Regigigas would let you in," Cynthia suggested, standing up. "Shall we go now?"

"Hm…" Anabel stopped to think: it might be a good idea to have Ben meet them in there; maybe they could use the power of the Sanctuary? "Sounds good," she answered, standing up. "Let's go right now!"

As they walked out to Snowpoint Temple, Anabel found it annoying that she couldn't stop shivering, even through her lavender snowcoat. The weather had been quite bad lately in Snowpoint, and from how things looked, it wouldn't get better for a while. "Are you even sure we're going in the right direction?" she shouted over the wind. "I can't see for even a few feet ahead!"

Cynthia was getting worried herself. "The weather's blocking my Pokétch's connection…I can't tell where we are either. I can't believe the weather is so bad now. Perhaps your psychic power will do it?"

"I'm not sure what exactly I'm looking for, but…here goes," Anabel sighed, and closed her eyes. There was an unusually large amount of reishi in the air at one point…and the path that led there was only a few turns away. "Found it," Anabel declared, opening her eyes. "Come on."

The two young ladies battled their way through the blizzard until they finally found the temple, and ran in, glad to be out of the wind and snow. "Glad that's over," Anabel sighed, taking her hat off and whacking it a few times to get the snow off. "But it's kind of dark in here…"

Cynthia pulled a pocket flashlight out and shone it around the room. "Is that better? It looks like Regigigas has gone dormant again, though…"

"You said Regigigas randomly awakened when you were battling Saturn, though," Anabel noted. "But how did it do this? That's what I'm wondering."

"Perhaps it sensed the power of Articryo?" Cynthia suggested, but then frowned and shrugged. "No, if that were the case, he wouldn't have attacked from the start; he _did_ pause when he saw us. Maybe it was something else…it might take us some time to find out."

"Speaking of which, do you think we should have taken Chris with us?" Anabel asked. "He doesn't know we left the hotel, so won't he get worried?"

"Doubt it," Cynthia dismissed, and nothing more was said about that subject.

At that moment, suddenly there was a sound of two trucks coming. Both ladies turned in surprise and found Cipher Peons jumping out of said trucks. "Let's go! Secure the area!" they shouted.

"So Cipher's launching another operation here…" Cynthia growled. When Anabel gave her a confused look, she replied, "A Cipher Admin was stopped in her mission to take the Sanctuary for reasons I won't know. Now they've come to finish the job." She reached for a Pokéball and held it just in case.

The Cipher Peons entered the temple-and saw Anabel and Cynthia. "What the-? What are you doing here?!" they demanded. "Whatever. Just do us a favor and come with us." A few detached from the main squadron and positioned themselves around the two.

Cynthia decided it was time to make a move now. "Go, Milot-" she began, pressing the button. But nothing happened. The Champion stared, dumbfounded at her Pokéball not responding. "Is it broken?" she wondered.

"Oh yeah, we forgot to mention," smirked a Cipher Peon. "We put a machine in our truck. Now Pokéballs are disabled here-except ours, which we designed to block the waves from the machine. You can't call on your Pokémon this time!"

"So I can't do anything…"Cynthia grimaced and sighed. _Why do these guys keep besting me?_ "Sorry, Anabel. You'll have to handle this."

"And I'll do that gladly," Anabel replied, holding up her Pokédex Ultra, thumbing the button and causing the _kanji_ for "mind" to appear.

What appeared to be a human female appeared on the screen. Anabel pulled the Pokédex back, whipped it behind her and her free hand in front, and a lavender sphere appeared in her hand with the _kanji_ for "mind" on it. Anabel raised the sphere, then brought it and the Pokédex together, sending brilliant lavender sparks everywhere. "Come forth, my friend!" she shouted. "Psychic Elemental Ressurection!" She brought the two apart, giving birth to a storm of lavender light.

Soon, the light began to fade, revealing a pale, disturbingly human white face that with eyes of lavender was set upon a head that possessed lavender hair and a pair of ears that spiked backwards in two points. Thread-like purple lines dripped like tears from her eyes to either side of her chin, in a similar manner to the face of Ulquiorra Schiffer. The eeriest thing was that this face lacked a mouth. She wore a strange tiara that possessed a gently pulsing amethyst, which also held two locks of her hair in long streaks that draped over the front of either one of her shoulders.

Her arms were just as pale as her face, with form-fitting purple elbow-length fingerless gauntlets that featured diamond-shaped openings in the back of her arm near her elbows and in the backs and palms of her hand, revealing round sapphires embedded in the arms and hands underneath. Four ribbon-like appendages similar to Suicune's tails emerged from the back of her white dress and appeared to be suspended in the air, each one angling forward from either side of her, one from below and one from above, with a pearly iridescence that one could catch flashes of green, blue, and pink within. From a belt cinched at her waist dangled all the way to the bottom of her flowing skirt a strip of cloth that was elaborately patterned, with a square that featured the kanji for "mind" in the center.

The figure that used to be Anabel descended upon a glowing lavender circle labeled _Psychic_from her evolution, and stopped just before touching the ground. She spun around in a dance-like move, filling the air with blindingly fast slashes from her "ribbon" appendages, before flaring them out in four directions, still waving in the wind, and striking a battle pose. "_Anticipate, Oracle Seishira!_"

_Hope she'll be powerful enough,_ Cynthia thought to herself. She heard a Cipher Peon sneak up behind her and suddenly spun around, kicking him in the chin.

Seishira whipped her appendages through the air, sending slashes of psychic energy that slammed into the Cipher Peons before they could even raise their Pokéballs. A Houndoom bounded upon her from behind, which she instinctively blasted with a burst of psychic energy to no avail. Slammed into the wall by the Houndoom as he ripped at her with his teeth, Seishira let out an angry hiss and whipped him with her appendages, Slashing him and forcing the Dark Pokémon to jump away.

But then Seishira gazed at him with her lavender eyes-which flashed with the power of Miracle Eye. Then Seishira threw her hands out, appendages flapping as though there was wind, and a wave of psychic power rippled out from her body. This was followed with five similar ripples striking Houndoom, now able to be hit thanks to Miracle Eye. The Dark Pokémon was sent sprawling from the force of the impact and fainted within the minute.

Next, a Sharpedo sailed at her from the right. Seishira pointed her hand at him and generated a clear lavender sphere which she blasted him with, knocking him out in one hit. (All Elementals can use Aura Sphere. If they are experienced enough.) Then she pointed and launched several beams of multicolored lights, knocking out the Arbok hanging from the ceiling above her. _Unfortunately for him, I have no blind spots,_ she thought to herself. The Arbok hissed and fired a blast of poisonous sludge at Seishira, who dodged the attack and dispatched the Cobra Pokémon immediately with another Psybeam.

Cynthia watched as Seishira utterly trashed each Pokémon within seconds. "She really is amazing," the Champion mused.

"Huh!" a Cipher Peon behind her snorted, loudly (and obnoxiously) enough to make Cynthia turn around to face him. "She's just a Pokémon! Why should you look up to her? Or is it because you think a mere beast is vastly superior to yourself?"

"Seishira is _not_ just a beast!" Cynthia spat, and before the Cipher Peon could say anything else, Cynthia roundhouse-kicked him in the side, knocking him into the wall. _Good thing Ben randomly challenged me to that kung-fu thing. Don't know why he likes doing it, but whatever._ Then she looked back at Seishira, valiantly battling the Cipher Peons' Pokémon despite them outnumbering her. _But how long can she keep this up? _she worried to herself. She reached for her Pokétch and began to type a message…

Seishira, meanwhile, whirled around to fight Pokémon from all sides. It was starting to get annoying, having to fight so many. _Will there be any end to this?_ she thought in frustration. A Mienshao was taken care of with a single Zen Headbutt, and while her tiara still glowed with the lavender energy Seishira whirled and knocked out a Medicham. Spying a Shiftry charging a Dark Pulse, her eyes flashed with Miracle Eye, then she unleashed an invisible Extrasensory attack that crashed into Shiftry and defeated him in one hit (ironic, since Extrasensory was once actually Shiftry/Nuzleaf's signature move).

A Tyranitar rushed up to her and raised his hand preparing for a massive Giga Impact, but Seishira dodged the attack and blasted him with an Aura Sphere. The Armor Pokémon staggered, but recovered and began to charge Hyper Beam. Another Aura Sphere flew, and Tyranitar slumped, unconscious. But the damage had already been done by his Sand Stream ability; sands were being whipped into the air and slashing Seishira as they went. The Psychic Elemental winced with each small scratch across her body; even such a small pain could be a distraction to her psychic attacks.

The Cipher Peons, sensing victory, brought out their next Pokémon: a Metagross. The Iron Leg Pokémon strode boldly through the Sandstorm, his mighty steel legs unable to be scratched by the sand. He raised his leg, which glowed bright silver, and attempted to smash it into Seishira with the force of a meteor. Seishira flew backwards out of the way, and Metagross turned to fire a Hyper Beam at her. The Psychic Elemental dodged the Hyper Beam, but couldn't take advantage of the Recharge time because a Bronzong suddenly dropped down on her from above.

Seishira threw the Bronzong off her with psychic energy, to which the Bronzong charged sunlight and fired it at her. Then both Metagross and Bronzong used their power to shake the earth…which had absolutely no effect because Seishira Leviates. But because Bronzong also levitates, and Metagross had used Magnet Rise to stay aloft as well, no one was hurt. Well, except for all the unlucky non-flying/levitating Pokémon. At least no one IMPORTANT was hurt.

Then both Bronzong and Metagross lanced out with psychic energy at the Psychic Elemental. Seishira felt the waves approaching, then scoffed. Her skin suddenly turned reflective, and the waves bounced back at Bronzong and Metagross even faster and stronger. _Don't challenge me to a match of whose Psychic power is stronger,_ Seishira thought, blasting both of them with her own Psychic and knocking them out immediately. Then, sensing another presence behind her, she whirled around and blasted a Psybeam…but nothing happened.

Almost dumbfoundedly, Seishira stared. Hovering in front of her almost lifelessly was a Pokémon that made no movement whatsoever; not even a twitch. This was a Shedinja, the Shed Pokémon. And seeing the white and purple parts of its body, Seishira knew that it was an XD-series, and with its Wonder Guard ability, this was an opponent she could not win against by herself.

Shedinja blasted the Psychic Elemental with an ultra-fast Shadow Ball, causing her to fall back. Noting the Shadow energy inside, Seishira got up and formed a barrier of yellow hexagonal plates of light, so the next Shadow Ball exploded against it. Unfazed, Shedinja fired a needle through the Light Screen, which buried itself in Seishira's arm and glowed with lavender energy. Seishira's muscles seemed to tighten as her energy was leeched out and zoomed into the Shed Pokémon. Cursing, Seishira summoned more plates-blue this time and arranged them on top of the Light Screen. Now the Shed Pokémon attempted to slash her with its wings, but they bounced off the barrier harmlessly.

Now Shedinja glowed with dark purple energy, and suddenly Seishira's barriers disappeared. With them gone, before she could reconstruct them, he rammed hard into her with shadow energy, slamming Seishira into the wall. The Shed Pokémon began to whip up a storm, blasting her with darkened gales. Before Seishira could get up, Shedinja emanated shadowy aura again, casting shadows over the room. Suddenly, Seishira found her senses going wild, and she couldn't see anything straight. Was Shedinja growing in size, or…? She began to panic and quickly summoned barriers, but they failed to her dismay.

But then, the playing of a flute was heard, and Shedinja shrank. The intense feeling of danger disappeared, and Seishira could see properly again. Cynthia lowered the Yellow Flute and breathed a sigh of relief. "Good thing this Yellow Flute works on even Elementals."

_Thank you, Cynthia,_ Seishira telepathed, and she began to slash the ground with her ribbons, then lifted the chunks of rock out of the ground and threw them at Shedinja. However, the Shed Pokémon dodged each one and raced at Seishira herself, striking her with an X-shaped attack from its wings. As Seishira stumbled back, Shedinja fired a Shadow Ball to keep her away from it.

The Shed Pokémon suddenly summoned dark purple flames around itself, which began a bizarre dance, and then surrounded Seishira. Suddenly, they grew in size, and the embers landed on her, causing burns. Seishira grimaced from the pain, but then she raised her hand as her ribbons danced around again, there was a ringing of a bell in the air, and the burn marks disappeared from her skin. Even so, Seishira was still worried. _How long can I keep this up?_

It was then that there was suddenly a blast of ice, and in front of her now was a humanoid figure with pale silver fur, and icy blue streaks running across his legs perpendicular to them, as well as across his back and face. Two crossed elaborate sabers with guards shaped like elegant snowflakes and pale blue _tsuba_ rested on his back. A silvery-white headcrest bearing resemblance to part of a snowflake sat on top of his head, and irises glowing a pale blue against his white sclera and fur. _So you're finally here,_ Seishira thought with annoyance. _Took you long enough._

"Shut up, real heroes have lots of things to deal with…and more important ones," Articryo replied offhandedly. Seishira seethed in anger, but said no more about the subject. Articryo pointed his sword at Shedinja and fired a shard of ice-but it didn't work! Shedinja charged forward and took the attack head-on, then slashed Articryo as it went by with its wings, suddenly seeming very metallic in texture. Articryo shouted in pain, then turned to attack again, but sludge crashed into him, seeping in and badly poisoning him. Then Shedinja flapped its wings several times, launching gusts at Articryo, who was blown back hard by them.

"Even Articryo's being defeated by it?!" Cynthia gasped, watching the fight continue. "And Seishira can't win…do we even stand a chance?"

* * *

_At the Pokémon Center in Snowpoint…_

"_Come to the Snowpoint Temple. We'll be there. Just going sightseeing, don't worry."_ Ben couldn't help smirking at Marth. "Guess you were wrong, huh?"

"I never said I was right about everything," Marth replied, although he seemed truly annoyed.

"Riiight," Silver sighed as they walked into the building. "Well, anyway, just get Empoleon healed, and then we can g-"

Ben suddenly noticed he could feel clashing _reiatsu_ in the air…and it was powerful. Then he noticed that Silver, Kotone, Marth, and Ike all wore expressions of concern. "Uh, guys? Something's wrong, isn't it?" he asked, trying to get their attention.

"Don't you feel it? Anabel's in trouble," Kotone replied worriedly. "Her _reiatsu_ is fluctuating crazily."

"What? Oh no! What do we do?" Ben panicked. He couldn't tell it was Anabel's though; he could only remember anyone's _reiatsu_ after he met them. Or he could only remember Axel's because he was wearing an object filled with it on his head.

"Get Empoleon fixed up from that ride on the waves. Then we'll meet you at the Temple," Silver replied hurriedly. Both Kotone and Silver ran out of the Pokémon Center immediately afterward.

"Marth, Ike, are you guys going?" Ben asked. The Origin Captains had not moved yet.

"We'll follow, but I have a feeling we're going to have even worse problems later," Ike replied. "Come on, Marth!" The two followed Kotone and Silver out the door.

By now, the blizzard had died down, but snow still fell thickly from the clouds. Kotone and Silver were finding it hard to see as they ran. "A little light would be nice," Kotone muttered. Silver held up his hand, and fire appeared in it, lighting the way. "That's better," Kotone sighed, looking at her Pokégear. "Now if I remember correctly, the Temple's that way…"

They turned and kept running, but then suddenly found something huge blocking their way. It was a Haxorus! "It's Shadow! Watch out!" Silver shouted. The two dodged the shadowy meteor she immediately called down, but then a blast of magma struck her and forced her back.

"We'll handle this guy!" they heard Ike shout as he drew Ragnell. They could also hear Marth drawing _Islinger_. "Keep going!" And so Kotone and Silver continued on in the snow.

Eventually, they found a truck outside the Temple. "Here we are!" Silver declared. "Let's go!" As the two ran inside, they immediately activated their Pokédex Ultras. Indigo fire engulfed Silver, and a heavily muscled, clawed arm with spikes lining the back of his arm burst out of the flame, with a deep red gem appearing on the shoulder. A long tail with many spikes rapidly materialized, and clawed feet took form to precedent "armored" thighs with the knees adorned with diamond-shaped armor and a spike on each thigh pointing up. Two deep red gems on the dragon's chest appeared, and still more spikes ran up his back. Four great wings unfolded, each one something like bat wings with spikes on the edges. The spikes continued up his neck all the way to the head, which was streamlined backwards and featured fin-like protrusions on the sides of the head.

The dragon, still wreathed in fire, blasted upwards before soaring across the sky, and then, spiraling and shining, roaring and streaking, dove downwards at alarming speed before landing on an indigo platform with "Dragon" in _kanji_ on it, spreading its wings, and throwing its arms out, expelling all the indigo flames on its body, revealing a deep violet and indigo color scheme, sans the gems. The dragon roared, blasting flames everywhere. "Soar, Ascendant Drakanohi!"

A storm of wind-swept petals zoomed around Kotone, and when it dispelled, a young lady with rose-red hair was revealed. Her eyes were grass green, and an armor plate resembling three leaves placed together rested on her forehead, doubling almost like a tiara. Long leaves extended from her wrists, and she was wearing a leaf skirt, composed of around 8 large leaves hanging from her waist. Yes, they went down to just above her knees. A full armor of a strange leaf green steely substance covered her body. Her torso was encased in a scale-armor of leaves, her shins were guarded by steely plates with leaf-like kneecaps. She held a glossy shield on her left arm, with the emblem of a rose on it, and wielded not a sword but a wooden staff in her right hand. She looked distinctly human, but make no mistake, for looking like a human is far from being one.

She jumped down, shouting as she whirled her staff. She lightly on the ground and slammed her staff into the ground, whirling about a storm of leaves. She held up her shield, and an Energy Ball charged in front of it and blasted forth, exploding somewhere. "Arboreon Magna!"

It was only then that the two realized that their opponent was an XD-series Shedinja. "Uh…this may have been one of our more embarrassing moments," Drakanohi grumbled.

"Agreed," Arboreon nodded. "Change to Pyrelios. You may be big in that form, but Shedinja won't be harmed by any of your attacks."

Drakanohi engulfed himself with indigo flames, and they disappeared to reveal Silver. But something blurred, and his Pokédex Ultra was out of his hand. "What the-?" Silver suddenly heard a loud screeching, and turned to see his Pokédex Ultra…in the hands of a Ninjask! "Hey! Give that back!" Silver shouted. He ran at the Ninjask, but she was just too fast! Arboreon slashed at it as well, but with her ever-increasing speed, the Ninja Pokémon just couldn't be caught!

And then Shedinja began to emit a dark purple mist which covered the room in darkness. No one could see a thing, and even sensing _reiatsu_ went wild. Arboreon looked around nervously in the darkness, and suddenly was struck from behind by a Gust! She screamed and whirled around, firing an Energy Ball in the direction the Gust, but never found out if it hit its target. She just couldn't see if it hit or not. But then another one struck her from behind, and she realized the enemy was still unharmed.

Seishira couldn't sense a thing. To her, the Psychic Elemental, it was both frustrating and frightening to have her senses clouded. _Second time today,_ she thought with disgust. Suddenly, a slash of darkness struck her in the back, and she whirled to Psycho Cut the source, but nothing happened. Then she heard Arboreon's scream…but it seemed to echo all around her. The Psychic Elemental couldn't tell where it came from! She began to run in a random direction, not knowing where she was going…

Silver pulled out a Pokéball from his belt. "I'll have Charizard blow it all away with Defog," he decided. He pressed the button on his Pokéball…but nothing happened. "What?! My Pokéballs won't work?!" Silver realized, dismayed. "Shit, that means…I can't even do anything!"

Seishira suddenly got an idea, and used her Miracle Eye. But to her dismay, she couldn't see anything clearly even with that. For several moments, she thought she could see Ninjask darting around, but the mist would always obscure her vision. Seishira sighed and waited until she could see Ninjask again, and then her eyes glowed. Ninjask was suddenly caught by telekenesis, and couldn't move no matter how she flapped her wings. _Now you're mine,_ Seishira thought, blasting the Ninja Pokémon with a Psychic. But then something flew in front, and Ninjask disappeared. _What-Shedinja?! _Seishira thought, and then a Shadow Ball struck her, sending her crashing to the ground.

There was suddenly a yell, and then thick snow flew everywhere. A large clump struck Arboreon and smashed her into the wall, freezing her in place. "Augh! Who threw that?!" she wondered. She tried to move, but another one struck her and reinforced the ice. Arboreon frantically threw an Energy Ball in the direction of that attack. Big mistake; an icy blue flame surged at her and began to burn, freezing and hot at the same time. Panicked, Arboreon let off an aroma to destroy the ice and cure her burn. But then shards of ice flew at her, forcing the Grass Elemental to run.

Silver also was struck by one and sent into the wall. "This is an Elemental's power…" he muttered in surprise. "Stop! You're going to destroy us, too!" But that had no effect, because more and more snow continued to fly at him. Silver was powerless to stop any of it, even with the sweet aroma in the air destroying the ice gradually…

Seishira was struck dead-on as well. She had no time to activate a Safeguard before she was frozen. _That fool! What does he plan to accomplish by attacking wildly?!_ The ringing of a bell sounded, and the ice shattered on her. Before any more "mistakes" could happen, Seishira quickly caused a blue-green veil to surround her, and the blizzard which struck her next failed to freeze over, instead freezing the barrier. _Hope I can keep this up before this madness kills me!_ Seishira thought.

The ringing of the bell coupled with the aroma shattered the ice even faster. Silver watched as it all cracked away. "Nice of them to do that," he muttered, but then he heard a howl and decided it was time to keep moving. Suddenly, something sharp and cold struck him in the back, and Silver toppled. "An…icicle?" he groaned. Then suddenly he heard another howl, and felt his body go cold. Literally. With horror, he realized it was Sheer Cold, and began to run as fast as he could away from the spot, ignoring the pain of where the icicle struck him.

Then the signature screams of Ninjask echoed through the room. All the combatants save Shedinja and Ninjask began to groan, as this scream is very agonizing to listen to. From the sounds of it, Articryo had had enough, and a blizzard raged through the cave, regardless of who it was hitting…

* * *

It was at that moment that Ben rushed to the Temple's entrance. He was met instantly with the dark purple mist. "Whoa, I wonder what that is?" he muttered.

"It's Shadow Mist," Niko replied, examining. "It messes with the senses of non-Shadow Pokémon, and lowers evasion as well…or any other chance to do anything. I think it's best if we blow it away. Bring out your Empoleon and use Defog."

"Alright, here we go…" Ben pressed the button, but the Pokéball did not respond. "Weird," he commented. "Wonder what's going on?"

_Beep._

"What was that?" Ben wondered, turning. It came from the truck, he realized. Then another one came, and another. Ben looked inside the truck, and found a strange machine with an antenna sticking out, and several dials on it. Deciding to shut it off, Ben pressed the power button. "Cipher's probably not doing anything GOOD with that," he muttered. "Let's try this again." He pressed the button, and this time Empoleon burst out. "Good! Use Defog!" Ben ordered. Empoleon flapped his wings, and the mist cleared out with several strong wingbeats.

"The others are probably in really deep mud right now," Niko noted. "Let's head in there and see!" Ben and Niko ran in…and were shocked by what they saw. Articryo, Arboreon, and Seishira all seemed to have been defeated…but iced over, Arboreon and Seishira looked as though it was Articryo who defeated them! Shedinja gazed blankly at him, and Ninjask continued to fly around the room with the Pokédex. Silver was also on the ground, bleeding from the back.

Arboreon looked up to see them. "Ugh…where have _you_ been?" She tried to stand up, but there was too much ice for her to do so.

"Um, yeah, sorry I'm late," Ben lamely apologized. "So, um…"

"What happened in here?!" Niko wondered. He didn't have time to wonder much more, because then Shedinja fired a Shadow Ball at him. "WHOA!" Niko shouted, jumping back. "Why, you-"

"I'll deal with Shedinja! Quickly, get the Ninjask!" Ben shouted, and he unsheathed _Wado Ichimonji_ while charging at Shedinja. He slashed, but the blade had no effect whatsoever on Shedinja. The Shed Pokémon fired a Shadow Ball, which Ben slashed in half.

"It's useless, Ben!" Silver shouted. "Shedinja can't be hurt by your sword! It'll only be hurt by-"

"Just watch," Ben replied simply, and he struck again. Wado Ichimonji flickered as it harmlessly struck the Shed Pokémon, and Shedinja slashed with its wings, which Ben parried. Another strike…the blade flashed now, but still Shedinja was not hurt. It launched a needle at Ben, but he dodged quickly.

"What's he trying to do? He couldn't possibly hurt it," Arboreon murmured as Ben continued to strike at Shedinja, in a seemingly futile effort.

But then Ben stood, Wado Ichimonji shining brightly. "Found it," he declared, and raised his sword one more time. Shedinja rushed forth for an X-Scissor…and Ben swung the blade down, knocking out the Shed Pokémon instantly. Everyone gasped as it fell to the ground, except Niko.

At that moment, Niko struck Ninjask with a Shock Wave which homed in on the Ninja Pokémon, and whipped his tail around, firing an Electro Ball and knocking out the Ninja Pokémon for good. He caught the Pokédex and handed it to Silver. "Looking for this?" he grinned.

"Thanks, Niko," Silver groaned, standing up. Arboreon held out her hand and began to heal his back wound. "What did you do there, Ben?"

"Let's just say it's a new power. I really can't explain," Ben replied, helping him to his feet. "Are you all okay?"

Seishira glowed with lavender light, and reverted to being Anabel. "We were having problems until you arrived. I don't know what you did there, but good job."

Ben could tell that they were all awed by _Wado Ichimonji_ now. "Um, so, anyway, Anabel," he finally managed in the awkward silence, taking the headphones off and holding them out to her, "I suppose you know what happened to Axel? Because of that, I'm trying to save him now…" He explained everything to her, and Anabel was visibly shocked. "Can you give me some of your _reiatsu?_ I'm going to need it to save Axel."

Anabel placed her hand on them, and her hand glowed lavender. "Let's hope you succeed, Ben. To us, the Elementals, Axel is an irreplaceable friend. He may be obnoxious, but along with the other Origin Captains he helped us master our powers. We're very indebted to him."

"Thanks, Anabel," Ben smiled, taking the headphones back. _Even a little more energy is just fine…_

Cynthia, who had hid during the chaos, now walked up to Ben apologetically. "I don't have power or anything like that…I don't think I can help you this way. I can't place power in there…but will it do if I wish you good luck with what you're doing?" she asked, clasping his hand.

"That's just fine," Ben smiled. "Even that can help us." Then he turned away. "Chris, you've heard everything, so could-wait, Chris?" Everyone had to turn and look. Chris was lying on the ground, completely motionless. In him lay a giant wooden splinter, and rocks and ice shards lay all about. Lingering spectral and mental energy lay in the air. But what everyone knew had happened…

It was Kotone that finally spoke words that cracked like ice being crushed under one's heel. "Ben…when you arrived…the Shadow Mist disoriented all of us. With Shedinja attacking us at various points…Chris couldn't take it, and started attacking everyone. We got carried away and attacked back…but…"

Ben rubbed his eyes with his wrist. "This isn't the time for shedding tears, even for friends," he blatantly spat out the untrue words. "W-we _need_ to stop Cipher. They killed one person today, they killed hundreds yesterday, and they won't stop killing until they have what they want. We can't let them have it. And…he almost killed you guys. So I'm fine."

"Ben, you're just going to-" Anabel wasn't the only one who was utterly shocked, it seemed. Everyone had realized quickly what this just came to.

And Ben was aware what they were thinking: his previous life, against the pressures of death and violence, had come to an end. "We can't let one death stop us. If anything, this should be a reason for us to continue. Are you coming, then?"

"We'll go to Mt. Coronet first," Silver decided. "We can put a wrench in Cipher's plans now and buy you some time. Best of luck, okay?"

"Yeah. I'm counting on you guys." Ben took one last moment to hug Cynthia and whisper some parting words, then ran outside into the blizzard.

Ike and Marth followed, having defeated the Haxorus, but soon noticed something was wrong with him. "Hey, you seem a bit off. What's up?" Ike asked, falling in step with Ben.

The Champion did not reply.

* * *

Silver looked back at Chris' body one last time. "Well, you heard him. Any respects you want to pay?"

"…not…particularly…" Cynthia admitted, and the others said nothing as well. While they all felt guilty from his death, they had few fond memories of him, and so they had no parting words to say.

"Let's bury him, then, and hurry. We have a promise to keep," Silver reminded them.

* * *

_Mt. Coronet..._

Axel's eyes opened when he felt the final pulse of _reiatsu_. His eyes held no new dismay, however, but rather only the old despair, drilling deeper into his conscience. He stood up, ignoring the pain lacing through his bones. "I must continue," he flatly murmured, and _Shiruba-Getsu _lifted from the rocks again.

Black wings appeared on his back, and black _daitos_ were brandished in his hands, as the Hell Angel took to the sky once again.

* * *

_The Battle Frontier..._

Ashura dusted his robes off. "That's the last of them. Now we'll have to go to Mt. Coronet as well to help that boy save Axel, I suppose."

"I hope that idiot didn't get himself killed so hard we can't save him," Annabelle muttered in an attempt to sound snarky about something she actually was hoping.

"Indeed," Ashura agreed grimly. "When his emotions are on the down curve, they slope to a rather dangerous point. We need to make sure that our moonlight angel continues to shine.

Because he has offered his life solely to his friends already. There isn't much we can give back in return."


	38. The World of Swords

**WARNING: As the rewrite is still going on, there will be some dissonance between Haku and Hyoshiro's positions in this chapter and the previous ones they appeared in. To make a long story short, in the rewrite Hyoshiro and Haku go to Oreburgh mine to see what Cipher wanted (**_**Bleach **_**characters have been removed because I really don't care for Bleach anymore). Whether the Sanctuary at Sunyshore's activation will be shown I don't know yet.**

**Also, Haku's powers have been altered by Aeron (the author). So this will give you a firsthand look at them.**

**Giant references to **_**Fate/Stay Night**_** as well. It is likely more mechanics from the **_**Fate**_** series will be used in lieu of the Bleach mechanics.**

**Before you even ask why I'm suddenly continuing **_**Shadows of the Demon **_**before the rewrite is finished…well, Ashley Eon had Axel appear in one of her stories, and she's nearing the conclusion. Due to developments happening later in the plot of THIS story, I had to shift my priority list like crazy.**

**ASHLEY DO ME A FAVOR AND FOCUS ON **_**NOVAS ARE SHATTERED STARS**_** FOR A WHILE I NEED TO ADVANCE PLOT QUICKLY! DX**

* * *

_Undisclosed location_

Rocky sat in a computer room, watching several bits of footage over and over across multiple screens. He looked very dismayed from what he was watching.

Gaea walked into the room, but Rocky did not turn to face her. In fact, he didn't seem to acknowledge her presence until the girl spoke. "You seem very interested in the Champion all of a sudden, you know."

One screen showed Ben attacking Luna with all three of his swords, and then the special sword they had prepared mysteriously shattered. On another screen, Ben attacked a Shedinja with several swift stokes, and then it suddenly was defeated. Various other screens continued to show footage of Ben. "These fights," Rocky finally began, "all show that guy defeating his foe or breaking their weapons in one blow when a few seconds ago he was doing no damage. I can't understand the nature of this power."

"So all of a sudden he's more of a threat than Nightblazer, who's been wreaking havoc on our defenses for the past few days and always escaping detection?" Gaea asked, but she was not unwilling to accept that possibility.

"I don't know," Rocky sighed, standing up. "But at any rate, we can't ignore Ben Roronoa anymore. Gaea, I've already ordered he be closely followed. Do you know where he'll be next?"

"He's moving towards Oreburgh," Gaea replied, pointing at a screen that didn't show the footage of Ben. "So what do you want to do?"

"Luna's still injured from fighting Ben…but the rest of us are still ready to fight. All five of us will attack Ben," Rocky decided boldly. "We will stop this problem here and now. Gaea, inform Dordondii, Shooter, and Frostelius. We won't show any mercy."

"Is all of this even necessary?" Gaea asked just as she stepped outside the doorway.

"…we can't be too careful. And I'm not a practical thinker like some other people," Rocky replied. "Just get to it, okay?"

* * *

_Oreburgh Mine_

A hand burst from the rubble as Haku dragged himself out. "Argh…" He dusted himself off and checked if anything was badly hurt. "Hyoshiro!" he shouted. "Are you alright?"

From another pile of rock, Hyoshiro shoved a boulder aside and also checked himself for injuries. "Yeah. Nothing's broken too bad. It's a good thing I froze the rocks the instant before they hit. And you?"

"I created a shield to protect myself," Haku replied. "It held for a while, but I really chose the wrong one. The one I picked makes the body take damage if it does, so the fact that I'm still alive is a miracle."

"Just be glad you're alive," Hyoshiro replied, standing and helping his colleague up. "We need to find that Sanctuary quickly." They looked upward and found that they were in a giant chasm, with many tunnels leading into and out of a void. "It's a good thing it's only us. Normal humans couldn't make it back."

"That being said, it looks like the damage to Oreburgh will be lasting. This mine may end up being closed down for good." Haku looked around regretfully, eyes passing over every inch of crumbled rock. "Not to mention I can't even think about how many Pokémon just lost their homes."

"It gets worse," Hyoshiro suddenly realized, eyes wide. "The mine extends under a large portion of the city. Do you realize what that means?"

"Yeah," Haku replied, nodding grimly. "If we don't do our job right and cause another disturbance in the rock around us, not only will we be buried, but the entirety of Oreburgh will be destroyed."

"But there's one chance. If we can activate the Sanctuary's power in time, it will repair the environment around it. Hopefully it can reinforce the entire underground area. We _must_ succeed on this; Cipher's defeat is not the only thing we need to aim for now. Come on!" Hyoshiro ordered, pivoting on his heel and making a quick stride away.

* * *

_The surface_

Rocky stood in front of the entrance to the mine, probing for a trace of the two that had reportedly been eliminated. When he found them, he looked rather alarmed. "What's wrong?" Gaea asked as Rocky stumbled backwards.

"This is impossible…they survived!" Rocky breathed. "How much can they take?"

"In any case, we cannot simply leave them ignored. Shall we intercept the boy or take down the Origin Captains?" Dordondii asked.

"Well, while y'all're goddamn obsessed 'bout that Ben kid, seems t' me like we should kill _them_ first," Shooter replied, pointing at the mine. "Am I right?"

"I have few arguments with that. Let's go," Rocky replied, moving forward into the cave.

"_I do hope you'll reconsider." _All five froze in their tracks when they realized the boy in green standing behind them. To their horror, they realized Hanna Bladesinger and Eddie Adreguidez stood at either side of him. The rage straight from the North Pole in Aeron's eyes was enough to make blood clot in their throats.

"Well, if it isn't Aeron Solo!" Frostelius laughed, raising his bazooka and loading another shell in. "I suppose we have time to start o-"

"No, you idiot!" Rocky grabbed Frostelius and pulled him away. "Out of all the opponents we can take on, Aeron Solo is the _worst_! And also, there's something off about him! It's best if we run!" With that, he dived into the darkness and threw a hand out, collapsing rocks behind them over the entrance.

Those were sheared apart a moment later, followed by a wild green flash. "I will no longer pretend you know nothing about what happened to Axel," Aeron declared, as a bright green shaft of light completed itself in his hand. "_Buryūnaku_ (Brionac)_!" _The green lance planted itself firmly the middle of the group, scattering them as air exploded in all directions. Forming another lance in his hand, Aeron charged Dordondii and thrust it at his chest. Dordondii tried to send a gust to repel Aeron, but the air around the lance spiraled with a retaliating gale of its own in the opposite direction, ripping through Dordondii's attack.

Frostelius' ivory-colored bazooka flashed with white energy, and he hurled a notably larger missiles with a great icy trail. "You will not be able to just blow away my Super Missile! Its propulsion is too great for something such as that!" Frostelius triumphantly laughed.

"Then all I need to do is use a different method. _Shinsei Bakuha!_" Aeron fired a pulse of green energy into the missile, exploding it prematurely and sending many more at Frostelius. Shooter, meanwhile, morphed his gun into a minigun (contrary to the name, it is HUGE) and began to spin it up, but the noise of the gun spinning up alerted Aeron's attention, and he swung _Tsubasa no Raioh_, crackling with golden electricity. "_Ikazuchi Chikara!"_ Shooter managed to fire a few bullets, but the lightning forced him to halt his assault so he could make a run for it.

"What is the matter with that _ni__ñ__o_? He was not acting so furiously when I met him days ago," Dordondii noted.

"Hard to say, we can't know what Nightblazer's doing now either," Rocky replied grimly. "But this is nothing like the Solo we thought we were going to fight!" He vaulted over the next attack, while glancing worriedly at the ceiling. "He's showing no sign of restraining himself. Even if they say Solo's as coordinated as he is…at this rate, he'll bring the entire place down on us!"

* * *

_Further down_

Hanna and Eddie, who had slipped by the battle without being noticed, dropped between ledges further and further downwards. "It looks like Haku and Hyoshiro are fine," Hanna noted, "but be careful, Eddie, You don't want to cause another cave-in."

"When do _I_ cause cave-ins?" Eddie protested, vaulting to another wall and gripping the edge of the rock before freefalling to grab onto another outcrop.

"Not normally, but Cipher has been messing around. Also, while I can tell where the rock is stable, _you_ can't. I'll let you know where all the weak points are." One telepathic message exchanged between the two. "You good?"

"Hold on that thought…" Eddie muttered, suddenly landing on another overhang and walking in, turning on a flashlight. "Something's strange about this place…" He looked around suspiciously before his eyes flashed with an indigo light. "_Washimokushi_ (Eagle Vision)_!"_ The entire world faded away into a completely dark blue transparency. Contours of the terrain around were reduced to light blue outlines, while Hanna appeared stark white behind him. Further down, he could see Haku and Hyoshiro, also in white. However, what Eddie was paying attention to was the area further down the tunnel. "I wouldn't be able to notice this with only a flashlight…" His eyes reverted to their normal color. "Hanna, I think we may have just walked into the Sanctuary!"

"What? How can you tell?" Hanna peered inside, but didn't fully enter the tunnel.

"You can't remember Aetherian architecture if it were in front of your eyes anymore or something?" Eddie pointed at the walls and ceiling. They looked unnaturally smooth, save for some curling decorative designs in the rock. "No human tool could have made this, for sure. Can't you see how they look as if they were formed this way?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah…" Hanna wondered how she hadn't noticed with some annoyance before walking out. "I'm going to find Haku and Hyoshiro, so you continue on, alright?"

"Got it," Eddie replied, turning back with glowing indigo eyes once again. Up ahead, it looked as though there were numerous traps that were invisible to even an Aetherean's naked eyes. _It's a good thing I have Eagle Vision,_ he thought as he began to scale a pillar and carefully lifted himself above the pristine rock floor. Underneath, he could see numerous shining crystals, which to his eyes were emitting red spherical fields. _Don't wanna fall in there_, he thought to himself. Looking forward, he saw there were numerous ones also embedded in the walls and pillars.

"Pain in the neck…" Eddie considered just destroying them, but then decided against it and threw himself towards a small part of the wall not covered by the magic fields. His foot struck the rock and pushed away from it, propelling him to another pillar, which he clung onto for a second just to build up enough momentum to throw himself back onto the floor on a safe area. "This is gonna be a workout," he muttered, looking around at the other red fields around him.

A chandelier just happened to be hanging a distance away, but Eddie saw that the crystals that made it up also generated magical fields. "Do they REALLY insist on making this so hard for me?" he groaned, taking a leap to the ceiling and jabbing his blade into it, suspending himself above the dangerous floor. Gazing about, he saw another safe area at the right wall, and he leapt to it. A small piece of rock dislodged and fell into one of the fields, causing Eddie to worry that he would lose any handhold he had, and he hurriedly leapt to the last pillar, carefully lowering himself to the ground. "Glad that's over…"

"Did you enjoy your free running?" At this moment, Haku stepped from behind the next corner, badly bruised, but already healing.

Eddie gave him a look of disbelief. "How did _you _get here so fast? I thought you were below us!"

"We found a secret passageway leading up here," Hyoshiro explained, walking out after Haku.

"SO I DID ALL THIS FOR NOTHING. GOD." Eddie stalked off into a corner and pouted…so much that they knew he was really, REALLY exaggerating.

Hanna was the last to enter the hall, carefully closing the secret passage so that it only looked like a blank wall. "Glad you made it safely, Eddie…though you're getting slow." Eddie gave her an annoyed look, and Hanna did not pursue that subject further. "Aeron's currently fighting five of the Admins by himself to buy us time. Let's reactivate the Sanctuary-and hurry!"

* * *

It was probably a massive mistake to dive headfirst into a fight that someone like Aeron Solo was involved in, but the moment he saw the fighting, Ben hurled himself straight at Dordondii and slashed, causing the Admin to have to flee quickly. "Aeron!" he shouted to get the attention of his best friend's brother.

"I don't know why you're here, Ben, but stand back!" Aeron shouted, forming another _Brionac _spear in his other hand.

"Never!" Ben retorted, before Gaea's blades which slashed through everything like butter came down upon him. _Shusui_'s heavy blade flicked up just in time to block them, but everyone was shocked when Ben smacked them away and ran at Gaea with more speed than he had used before. "I'm not going to let a friend die this time!"

"Not going to…" Aeron slowly realized something about what Ben said. "Are you telling me someone's died who was on our side?"

Ben did not respond, and instead began to beat back Gaea's attacks with a greater ferocity than any human had been seen to have before. Gaea immediately recognized who he was. "You're…Ben Roronoa?!"

Rocky, also hearing the name, seemed to panic for a moment, then composed himself. "Everyone! Retreat! We can't win under these circumstances!"

"Say what?!" All of the admins gave him bewildered looks, but Rocky did not answer any complaints and hurled multiple rocks at Ben and Aeron, then hurled himself into the abyss below. Gaea followed him without much delay.

The other three, however, still stayed back to fight. "I don't know what got their spines all soggy, but we don't need their help t' defeat you!" Shooter declared, hurling a stream of bullets at Ben and Aeron. Both of them dodged the entire volley, and next thing Shooter knew, Ben was bearing down on him above, and Aeron was swinging his sword at his back. Frantically, a ring of fire burned itself in between his aggressors and the admin. It was only a temporary reprieve, though, and both weapons cut through the flames immediately, slashing Shooter across the shoulder and abdomen, with him barely being able to keep his vitals from being struck. Ben's foot shoved off the ground as he pursued, and Aeron hurled himself in the same direction he was going in to attack Frostelius.

Frostelius tried to generate ice armor to protect himself from Aeron's onslaught, but immediately Aeron thrust his blade through the joints, shattering it in seconds, and jabbed repeatedly at Frostelius' vitals, preventing him from aiming correctly and forcing him to hurl small ice blasts which Aeron easily parried with bursts of wind from his left hand. Realizing victory was impossible, the Admin turned on his heel and fled, hurling ice behind him to impede Aeron for a few moments.

"Frostelius?! You too?!" Dordondii demanded, before realizing Aeron would target him next, and likewise threw himself off into the abyss. Shooter, not wanting to fight alone, did the same.

"You're not getting away!" Aeron roared, but Ben suddenly caught him by the arm, preventing him from taking a step forward.

As Aeron glared at Ben with the utmost fury, Ben ignored the worst of it with a great effort and began to talk. "I don't know what's going on, or why you're so infuriated, but before you go on your roaring rampage of revenge, listen to me. Your fighting could've just killed everyone above us. Marth and Ike found the ground to be terribly unstable around here, and even they can only do so much to keep the whole place from collapsing. If we keep making false moves, we'll bring the entire city down upon ourselves." His face was absolutely pleading, as Aeron being this angry did not mean anything good. "I'd totally rip them apart as well, but we need to consider what would happen if we're not careful."

"Then we'll need to defeat them in a way that will avoid destroying the area," Aeron reasoned. "I think I know how we can fight all out without much concern. Come on, Ben, we're following them!"

* * *

When the Admins walked into the room, the Origin Captains were rather worried at first, but quickly drew their weapons with greater confidence as they realized their opponents were completely worn out. "Shucks…Rocky, ya got an idea?" Shooter asked.

Rocky shook his head. "We have virtually no way of getting out of this situation. I don't see us getting much aid, either. The best thing we can do is throw ourselves at them with all our might and hopefully damage the main crystal."

"Do you have any idea what you'll do if you try that?" Hanna immediately took a step forward, both hands on her blade's hilt. "There'll be no way of repairing the damage done to this place. Even if our fight doesn't bring the whole city down, anything like a wild Pokémon definitely could. Or have you resorted to terrorism?"

"Ha! That only would serve to create the greatest of art!" Frostelius laughed, but was silenced by a glare from all the Origin Captains, as well as Rocky and Gaea.

Rocky looked around and then noticed a massive statue, standing so tall the head couldn't even be seen. Molten rock made up the long legs, and the torso, also of rock, expanded almost ridiculously as it moved away from the legs. Two giant fists hung from arms extending to who knows where. _I'll topple that thing!_ he decided, and took a step forward, extending a hand to exert force on the statue, pulling it steadily towards them. The statue was incredibly hard to move, however, because of its immense size.

Gaea saw what he was doing and sprang into action, activating her blades and swinging them at the Origin Captains to repel them. "Is this really the best you can do?" Eddie taunted, diving between the blades and drawing his sword, while Hanna, Haku and Hyoshiro had to stay behind and keep the blades back.

"Now, everyone! Attack the base of that statue!" Rocky shouted. The Origin Captains stared at him in horror, and a moment later, bazooka shells struck the base and burned away at it or froze it and shattered, slowly gnawing away at the statue's feet.

Hyoshiro whipped his sword around his body, letting a silver chain extend. "Sit upon the frozen heavens, _Hyorinmaru!" _he shouted, and began to try and strike down their attacks with ice blasts. However, Dordondii blew the Admin's shells just out of the way of the ice blasts, and the Admins dodged them as they flew by. Next, Hyoshiro tried to create a wall of ice just in front of the statue, but it was hastily constructed and fell quickly by the suppressive fire.

Rocky's hand came down in a swift chop, and the statue began to topple, its foundations completely crumbled. However, as it began to fall, a blur of green halted the statue in its descent. "Wait, he caught up that quickly?!" Rocky groaned in dismay.

Unfortunately for the Origin Captains, it didn't look like Aeron was having a very easy time holding the statue up. It was slowly forcing him back down towards the ground with each passing second. Ben, having also darted into the room, blocked all the attacks coming at Aeron, but that didn't do anything to lift Aeron's load.

Suddenly, there was an orange light, and the statue began to right itself on its own. Everyone stared at it, unaware of the cause for this bizarre phenomenon. As soon as the statue stood upright, orange energy coursed into the foundations of the statue and regenerated the rock. The statue would not fall so easily again, from the pristine appearance of the rock.

"What was that phenomenon just now?" Rocky wondered, gazing at the rock intently as though something would spring out of it.

"It appears the Elemental of Rock still resides in this Sanctuary, and is starting to wake up," Haku commented after a long silence. "But at any rate, we cannot allow this kind of damage to keep occurring. Ben, Aeron, can you ward them off?"

"You can count on us," Ben nodded.

"Good. Hanna, Eddie, Hyoshiro, I leave activating the Sanctuary to you," Haku declared, and without paying attention to Eddie, he raised his left hand, shaped into a claw, to his chest.

"_**The world is made completely of swords."**_

Black mist began to swirl around his left hand, as a chilling breeze swept through the room.

"_**Possessing wills of iron, and hearts of glass…"**_

The Admins began to worry, and immediately attacked, but Ben and Aeron halted their advance quickly. Haku continued to gather energy in his hand.

"_**Thousands of battles have been fought across the world."**_

Shooter tried to load his gun, now a bazooka, but Ben thrust _Shusui_ forward and slashed through the shell, causing it to explode. Shooter was thrown to the ground, and his gun skidded across the floor.

"_**Never once have they yielded to each other…"**_

A great column of black energy swirled up into the air around Haku. Rocky spied Shooter's gun and dove for it, then pointed it straight at Aeron, its shape morphing into a sniper rifle. Without even bothering to look into the scope, he fired.

"_**Never once have they understood each other…"**_

The bullet sheared into Aeron's right hand, but didn't go out the other side. Aeron had to bite his lip hard to keep himself from screaming, and his sword fell from his grasp. Haku watched with great concern, but he could do nothing at the moment.

"_**They fight all alone each day in the world of swords."**_

Throwing his left hand to the side, Haku scattered the black mist all across the room, veiling the entire room, as well as Hanna, Hyoshiro and Eddie. They would not be affected by what he was doing next. Rocky gazed at this with awe before remembering himself and running at Aeron, knocking the fallen _Tsubasa no Raioh_ as far away from Aeron as possible while he was distracted by the pain.

"_**And therefore, this world has no meaning."**_

While the other Admins stared in awe at the transformed room, Ben began a furious counterattack to drive Rocky away from Aeron. Haku raised his right hand to his chest, mirroring the pose he had been making earlier. Bright light began to gather in it, suddenly making the spot that was the darkest in the room a few verses ago now the brightest spot.

"_**From the very beginning, it was certainly made of swords."**_

With these final words, the chant was complete. Haku thrust his hand upward, shooting the bright white streak into the air, into the depths of the darkness. As it traveled, strange lines appeared to be etched in the walls and floor, randomly swerving at right angles but then swinging back to their original course, and white particles were scattered through the air. But eerily, stark white swords could be seen stabbed into the ground, as though they were a memento to the swordsmen who had wielded them in lieu of a gravestone. The light disappeared into the emptiness above them, then suddenly gave off a radiant flash, making the swords glow and white spread through the entire area which had been turned black a moment ago.

"_**Kaosu Bureido Wakusu (Chaos Blade Works)."**_

A crazy dance of white and black clouded everyone's senses. When they finally could see again, what met them was a sphere composed completely of black and white swords, hilts all arranged to point to the top of the sphere, and blades arranged to point to the bottom. Beyond the sphere of swords was a shocking chaos of white and black. There was no gravity or matter to be seen except themselves, their opponents and the swords, and light and shadow didn't even seem to be so distinct anymore.

Haku's eyes were closed, and he was muttering a strange language no one knew (okay, maybe Aeron). Particles of white and black flew from his hands to the swords, making them pulse with their opposite color. The Admins considered attacking him, but it looked as though no one was able to move at the moment.

Finally, Ben broke the silence. "Aeron, what's happening right now?"

"We have been pulled into a Reality Marble," Aeron replied almost naturally. When Ben gave him a confused look, Aeron continued. "It's a plane of existence completely different from our world which only Haku has and can permit access to. Haku took us here so we couldn't cause any more damage, since we'll be in a different _world_. As for what's happening now…think of Haku as the game master who's sending us to the place we're going to battle."

"But if we're in another world, does that really matter?" Ben persisted.

"Well…truth be told, this Reality Marble differs from most in that it needs to be pre-prepared with a landscape and such. Haku probably didn't prepare one before this fight, but now he's doing so. A hard concept to understand, but I'm sure you'll get it."

"Oh, okay…" The entire concept was still confusing to Ben, but he could ask Marth and Ike later. "Say, Aeron, are you going to be alright? Your right hand's still bleeding, and it doesn't look like you brought _Tsubasa no Raioh _in."

"I could regenerate it if I wanted…" Aeron glanced at his hand and winced. "It looks like the bullet is still there, though. If I regenerate with it still in there, it'll be extremely painful-and besides, my body won't be able to regenerate 100% while it's still there." With an almost arrogant smirk, however, Aeron glanced at the Admins. "Even so, I don't think I'll have too much trouble with them."

"That's what you thi-" Frostelius began, but he was interrupted by the swords glowing in a monochrome that was strangely more vivid than real life. "What?!"

At that moment Haku's eyes opened. "Reality Marble, take shape!" he shouted, and all the swords shattered in another blinding flash. When they finally opened their eyes again, they were in a bizarre resemblance of a canyon, except once again, everything was black with white outlines.

Ben and Gaea found themselves further away from the rest of the combatants. "So I'll be fighting you…" Ben drew his swords and leveled them at Gaea. "Axel couldn't finish the fight he had with you previously. I guess I'll have to finish it in his place." Gaea raised her arms, and her blades reprojected, but she felt much less eager to fight than her opponent.

* * *

Haku and Aeron stood together against the other four. "What's going on here..." Rocky looked clearly annoyed and worried. "This wasn't in our intel either!"

"I deleted most of your intel after the last incident. That you recovered most of it was unfortunate," Aeron explained. "But thankfully, this was one of the things that didn't return to your databases."

"So…we basically have to fight against the two of them, right?" Frostelius asked somewhat hopefully.

"Well, after Solo wrecked us all, I'm a bit doubtful," Rocky replied, glancing at Aeron's right hand, which was stuffed in his pocket. "But I shot a bullet so that it would lodge itself in his right hand. His fighting style only relies on his right hand when he performs one-handed motions, so I think it's safe to say I've taken something important from him in this fight. Guys, do me a favor and actually listen to me for once, and we might w-"

Suddenly, Aeron kicked off the ground and flew through the canyon straight at Rocky. "I'm sorry, you're too smart for your colleagues to be easy to defeat. I will be taking you on myself." Before Rocky could argue, his left hand smashed into Rocky's face, and he continued flying further down the canyon.

Finally, Aeron suddenly pulled up, leaving Rocky to smash backfirst into the ground, plowing up rocks as he went. The moment these rocks were struck, their white outlines burst, leaving them to dissolve into black mist. Rocky stood up and dusted himself off, then ran a hand over his aching back to see if anything was broken. "So that was your plan, was it? To separate me from the rest?"

"You looked like the most troublesome out of the bunch, so of course I'd have to isolate you," Aeron replied, emphasizing with his left hand raised in the air in Rocky's direction. "Honestly, I never would have thought anyone would think of a strategy like that-disabling my right hand and disarming me as such. To boot, I can't use any of the powers I've displayed so far without _Tsubasa no Raioh_, nor can I call for it now that we've been separated on a dimensional scale. You really thought this out."

"I didn't know we'd end up here, but it was convenient," Rocky replied. "But why are you playing up that you can't use any of your abilities?"

"I said I can't use any of my _known_ abilities." Aeron held up his left hand, fingers wide open as if he were grabbing something. "But the only reason why you haven't seen me use my left hand is because my right hand is the more effective one when using _Tsubasa no Raioh_. My left hand can be…a little wild."

To Rocky's utter shock, Aeron's hands clenched around something...but what was it? It was completely invisible. Only a faint shimmer of winds could be seen as Aeron swung the invisible weapon in a wide arc, then leveled it at Rocky. "But that doesn't mean it's powerless, does it now?"

* * *

The other Admins watched dumbstruck as Aeron flew off with Rocky. "What a dramatic exit," Dordondii commented finally, before returning his gaze to Haku. "However, you do not have nearly as much to show us, it seems."

"And what makes you say that?" Haku asked calmly, not taking his eyes off of his opponents for a second.

"You refer to this place as 'Chaos Blade Works.' It seems chaotic, that is true. But there are no swords at all, nor does it make one think of anything being created except this landscape. A beautiful backdrop, but it does not live up to its name."

"Then this all is a complete farce," Frostelius laughed. "Against the three of us, this guy will stand no chance."

"You're right. Three on one is a very difficult battle indeed." Haku's mouth twitched upwards in a smirk. "I'll hold back as much as possible."

As he spoke, the entire landscape changed. Black polygons began to swirl around the combatants, then white lines arced through them and formed various swords (and a few spears, but we don't care about spears)-talwars, katanas, claymores, rapiers …you name it, they appeared, all hanging over the combatants' heads as though they were going to drop at any moment.

A black flamberge dropped into Haku's outstretched hand. "You asked for swords…well, here they are. If you still have your pride as fighters, you should get rid of it right now before fighting me."

A long silence passed as the terror of the situation struck the Admins. They remained unsure of what to do for so long, Haku pointed his flamberge at them, and swords began to rain upon the Admins by the dozens. They completely had no idea what to do, and thus swords slashed through them repeatedly without them even lifting a finger.

Finally, Dordondii tried to blow the swords off course, but they did not veer from their course at all. Haku struck the shimmering air and threw it off course with no trouble, then rushed in to attack Dordondii. Shooter began to fire at Haku, but the wielder of the Reality Marble called more swords down, knocking the bullets off course. Dordondii frantically tried to kick away Haku's flamberge, but was quickly struck in the back by a talwar and felled.

Haku kicked off the cliff behind himself, and brought his blade down on Frostelius, who hastily created ice armor around his body and shielded himself from the blow-barely. Shooter tried once more to gun Haku down, but before he knew it two swords implanted themselves in his chest. The gun clattered from his hands, and the next second a claymore lanced it through, ripping it in half. "Hey! My-" Shooter groaned and slumped over as if having given up already. "My gun…"

The next moment, Haku's flamberge shattered Frostelius' armor and left a dark red gash on the admin's blue snowcoat. Out of desperation, Frostelius jumped into the air and fired underneath himself, blowing himself into the air and forcing Haku backward. Undaunted, Haku responded by sending three more swords flying at the Admin at angles that he could not dodge all at once. "Have you had enough?" Haku asked, throwing his flamberge to the side and shattering a burst of flame Shooter had fired at him. "But then again, I don't think I'll accept 'yes' as an answer." At that moment, a slender sword landed in his hand and morphed, the guard becoming slanted towards the hilt, and the hilt becoming circular rather than a rectangle with rounded edges. The sword tapered itself from the guard to the tip at the same time, making something that didn't resemble a sword at all.

White and black swirled together in his left hand, forming his bizarre "bow" that looked more like a nine-branched tree than anything. Strings of white and black wove themselves around the end of the modified sword as Haku placed it in the space between two of the branches. "Are you prepared?"

* * *

Aeron's left hand mimicked pointing a weapon at Rocky, but still nothing could be seen. His hand still looked totally empty. The bizarre sight made Rocky wonder if Aeron was bluffing. _But with that weird shimmering in the air…I can't take chances._ "You intend to fight me with _what_ exactly?" he finally asked.

"I might as well tell you; it doesn't change much," Aeron replied. "I definitely have something in my hands. But you won't be able to see it. I've sheathed it in special wind magic-it would be translated to 'Invisible Air' in our language. Whatever I'm holding is wrapped in several layers of high-pressure air. They distort light to the point where it looks like I'm not even holding anything."

"And here I thought he would just pour his abilities into offense…" Rocky growled and raised his arm, preparing to strike.

"Prepare yourself!" Aeron's foot shattered the ground as he took a flying leap, just as Rocky generated a giant rock and lobbed it at him. The invisible weapon sheared through the rock just as easily as _Shiruba-Getsu_ would, much to Rocky's shock. Even more dismaying, while sparks flew from Aeron's weapon as it swept through Rocky's defenses, they did nothing to reveal the nature of his weapon, only seeming to fly in each direction. Stray rock shards also did nothing to reveal his weapon's dimensions.

An invisible weapon is much more troublesome than one would think at first glance. Knowing a weapon's length will let you know if you are within its range or not. Knowing its width will let you know how hard it strikes and how easily it can parry attacks. Knowing its trajectory will present to you exactly how to dodge it. And, of course, even knowing what kind of weapon an opponent is using will reveal their tactics fairly easily. But the Invisible Air would allow for none of these.

Not helped by the fact that Aeron's battle style had completely changed. Rocky noticed he was making wider swings and twirling his weapon about in circles to attack and defend, as though it were a performance rather than a battle. Compared to the small, accurate movements Aeron had performed before, knowing what his battle style had been like before did nothing.

Aeron's invisible weapon flashed from upwards, then the sides, then he spun around and slashed at Rocky. The Admin found he had to constantly take steps backwards in order to ensure his safety, and even then he could feel the magnitude of the swings.

While searching for ideas, Rocky suddenly thought of creating a giant rock and lobbing it at Aeron. _A crude strategy, but I can at least detect how far it penetrates into the rock._ He raised his hand, and the giant stone began to manifest itself as he fired smaller rocks at Aeron to keep him occupied.

"Do you really just plan to lob stones at me all day? I'm starting to get annoyed," Aeron commented as he spun his weapon around in his hands, sending all the rocks flying. "And bigger…isn't always better." His blade made one wide arc. Rocky was standing about five meters away.

Instantly, the giant rock was slashed in half before it even finished materializing. This threw Rocky totally off guard. _Wait…how did he do that if he was so far away, and a few moments ago his weapon couldn't hit me when I was standing a meter away?_

"Fighting with a person Axel would be much more interesting," Aeron commented, closing the distance with slow but long strides. "You seem concerned about the attributes of my weapon, but just like this, I shattered everything you thought you knew about it. I'd go into more lengthy explanations, but there are points where revealing too much information sets your own gravestone." With these words finished, his weapon raised above his head, seemingly poised for the death blow. "They always say wind cannot blow down the mountain, tear apart the stone wall, all those grand things. It looks like they were wrong." With these finished words, he brought the weapon down, with green energy bursting into view from the force of his attack.

Rocky had no choice but to just duck; he couldn't counterattack, and now Aeron apparently had a long range attack. Sure enough, the area above him burst into black polygons and white lines, out of existence. Aeron's feet broke into a run, and his weapon came swinging like a guillotine upon Rocky. Somehow, Rocky's hands came up, and the rock gauntlets he had were struck by the weapon…and didn't falter.

Aeron looked surprised, but before he could do anything, Rocky shoved the weapon away. He was sure of it-it was definitely a blade. Also, he had held it at a point close to Aeron's hands, meaning if it were a spear, Aeron was holding it very close to the tip. Likewise for an axe. Both of these, though, were awkward ways to use either of the weapons. _I've got it! His weapon is a sword! Probably straight, too, or it doesn't taper much._

Aeron himself was a bit surprised by this development. _He managed to block my sword without getting a hand cut off?_ he thought, staring intently at the blade covered in the Invisible Air. _I guess he wasn't as bad as I thought…that, or I've been going easy on him the whole time. No, both of them are the case, which led to my sword being stopped…_Aeron found an enthusiastic smile spreading across his face. "Looks like you do have some skill. I guess I can push harder now!"

Aeron continued pressing forward with his invisible sword, striking tremendous blows one after another, and Rocky carefully avoided each one, knowing at least the basics of sword skills to be out of the way even when Aeron moved his sword in random bizarre patterns that neither one was truly sure existed. Aeron's sword then came from the side, but Rocky took one desperate gamble, and his hand shot out and caught Aeron's hand. Quickly, Rocky's fist drew backwards and hurtled for Aeron's face.

Aeron's stunned expression suddenly disappeared as his foot whacked Rocky's ankle to the side, sending the Admin toppling off balance and under Aeron's arm. As Aeron's arm twisted, Rocky's hand was wrenched free, and Aeron gave him a rough kick into the wall. Rocky barely managed to roll to the side as Aeron unleashed another slash which ripped the canyon wall to pieces. Staring at the destroyed cliff, Rocky narrowed his eyes. "If I can't see it…it's probably either wind or some kind of magic…or both, since Invisible Air is wind-type magic. It doesn't look exactly like a metal blade made this…"

"No time for analysis, I'm afraid!" Aeron shouted, as another attack slashed apart the canyon wall, raining the "rocks" down on Rocky. As these weren't normal rocks (hence the quotation marks), Rocky could do nothing but run, as he wouldn't have time to generate his own rocks to shield himself. However, the moment he did so, Aeron was running to the point where he'd be right in front of Rocky, and his sword was already prepared to launch another deadly attack. Rocky thought he saw Aeron's entire body vulnerable to attack, however, and both of his arms came sweeping from both sides at Aeron.

It seemed like Aeron tripped at that moment, but that in itself was something that spelled doom for Rocky. As Aeron fell, he disappeared completely from Rocky's range, and as Rocky had already made his move, he suddenly was powerless to stop Aeron's sword from coming at him from the legs. They did not penetrate all the way, but instead send him sprawling into the ground.

Watching him, Aeron stood up again and took his right hand out of his pocket-and with his invisible sword, slashed it himself. "Found it," he declared, tossing the crushed bullet to the side. As Rocky watched with something of horror and disgust at Aeron cutting himself just to remove a bullet, it already began to regenerate. "What? You think I'd really do that if I couldn't regenerate? This whole time, I was tensing the muscles in my right hand so I could find the bullet and remove it."

"Why now of all times? You could have probed for it at any time up till now with methods that probably work better." Rocky still knew, though, that something big and terrible would be coming in a moment.

"I think this fight has been going on for too long. Your friends are being defeated as we speak. I will close the curtain now." Aeron placed both hands on his sword, and the air began to glow bright green. Then it dispelled en masse at a rapid pace, revealing a glowing green European-style sword with a bizarre guard that resembled wings. The sheer amount of wind sent Aeron flying at Rocky faster than one could dodge, the green comet in his hands surging in for the strongest attack.

* * *

The sounds of metal shattering again and again rang through the canyon. Ben Roronoa was fighting with swords like he never had before.

Gaea's blades were nothing like swords, and would not be shattered so fast. They could no longer penetrate his swords, but the emotions that had welled up within him made it clear he could not do with them-he would break them immediately. As soon as swords appeared behind him, he pulled them from the earth and smashed them into Gaea's blades, striking them far away to her sides and going in directly with _Wado Ichimonji_ in his mouth, with her barely even staying ahead of the dancing swords.

Gaea frantically tried to cross her blades in front of her, but Ben merely responded by crossing his swords and drawing his head back. _"Oni Giri!"_ he shouted, swinging all three at once. Gaea's blades managed to block it at the one point in which all three blades meet at the same point, but they struck with so much force that she was hurled backwards, though unharmed. Ben threw himself at her straight away, forcing his blades against hers so hard that at that moment, two of Gaea's blades shattered.

While Gaea stared at this with shock, Ben proceeded to keep striking at all of her blades, destroying every single one of them in an instant. The moment she tried to generate more, it was too late-Ben destroyed them in an instant as well. "The energy frequency of your blades has been memorized," Ben explained. "You won't win now!"

Giant earth spikes created themselves behind Gaea, and she pointed straight at Ben, letting all of them fly at him. Undaunted, the aura of a dragon began to emanate from Ben. _"Tatsu Maki _(Dragon Twister)_!"_ he shouted, spinning around faster and faster to create a tremendous cyclone. It threw the earth spikes to the sides, then sucked up Gaea and hurled her far off into the canyon, with Ben running after her...

…and catching her?

"I don't think I'd have the guts to kill someone just yet," Ben commented, laying a surprised Gaea on the ground. "I've won this fight anyway. But tell me now…what have you found about Axel's whereabouts?"

Gaea shrugged. "He's just on Mt. Coronet. We can't detect a trace of him, only a ton of ruin in his wake."

"I see…then, do you mind if you show me exactly where he's gone?" Ben held up his Pokétch and began to bring up the map.

"Wha-do you expect me just to sell out our defenses just because you didn't kill me?!" Gaea gave him a disbelieving stare.

"Nah. Just…" Ben showed her the map of Mt. Coronet and moved a finger over it, leaving a bright green line where he had traced. "Trace out the route for me, okay? I don't need elaborate maps of your plans."

"Alright, but this'll take a minute…" Gaea took the Pokétch and began to trace across it.

Ben warily watched her to see if she'd pull any tricks, but she just gave him the Pokétch back. "Uh…thanks…?" He hurriedly inspected it and put it back on.

"Are you that worried I'd try anything underhanded?" Gaea laughed. Then her face grew gloomy and she looked back down the canyon. "But then again, I don't even know why I just did that…do I really feel _that _guilty about what happened at the Battle Frontier?"

Before they could contemplate anymore, the world suddenly began to dissolve rapidly into black and white polygons just in time to reveal Haku lowering his arm, his bow disappearing and all three of his enemies having bizarre swords impaled in them that dissolved along with the world, and Aeron holding an unfamiliar green sword that, with multiple strong gusts of wind, disappeared from sight, while Rocky lay on the ground with a massive gash. The fight was definitely over.

The polygons faded from view to reveal they were back in the Sanctuary, now with the crystals around the room blazing white. "The damage is being repaired," Hanna told Aeron without seeming to pay much attention to the others. "We won't have to worry when we leave."

"That's good. Oreburgh isn't going to collapse today," Aeron sighed with relief. "I think it's time for our opponents for the day to leave, isn't it?"

"You're just letting us go like that?" Rocky narrowed his eyes, suspicious.

"I don't see the need to kill people that have come to their own slaughter unknowingly," Aeron replied, walking towards the exit and picking up the forgotten _Tsubasa no Raioh_ from the ground. "But don't expect to survive next time. And you'd better hope not to run into Axel, either."

"So if we find Nightblazer and defeat him, Solo will still take us down…" Rocky sighed, stood up while Gaea supported him, and traced a line in the air, opening up a circular portal to an area filled with mottled purple fog. "We're going, everyone. We're going to have to strengthen our defenses a whole ton more."

As the portal closed, Ben looked back to Aeron, explained his plan to him, and handed Aeron the headphones. "So why were you so angry at that time?"

"You weren't the only one who felt that pulse of energy from Axel. I felt it too, but it was off," Aeron explained. "It seemed more like the absolutely pathetic Axel from the really early years of his life than that Axel which I knew a week ago. That Demon Lugia had reduced him to that…" He handed the headphones to Hanna, but his hand took a bit to unclench. "It just is an absolute insult to me."

"How did it happen, though? Axel having black wings and all…" Ben wondered, gazing into the headphones crystal as if they would tell him the answer.

"I'm not quite sure how his powers suddenly regressed like that," Aeron admitted. "That being said...what happened to the Battle Frontier must have been beyond terrible for him. I don't know if you've ever noticed, Ben, but Axel…he actually constantly suffers from depression. It's something that started before I met him, and kept going up to this day. What happened at the Battle Frontier, then, would only deal out the emotional pain done to him _in spades_."

"Axel-depressed?! How does that even-he never even resembled depressed in any way!" Ben tried to think hard about any time in which the word "depressed" could even be applied to Axel, but came up totally blank. Of course, then there was that one jar he saw back at Axel's house on the table…

"Human medication does a lot more for him surprisingly than what we had back then," Aeron replied, taking Axel's headphones back from Haku and handing them to Ben. "And oddly enough, his being depressed made him the guy to go to if you wanted advice for problems but didn't want it to be given too harshly. But at the end of it all, he still hasn't recovered from that one day many years ago when he lost his first love interest by his own recklessness…"

"Why didn't he tell me any of this…?" Ben wondered, gazing at the headphones and feeling sort of depressed himself.

"He probably thought you couldn't handle it. And also, he has the tendency to shoulder his own problems by himself." At this point, they had reached the opening of the mine, and Aeron's line of sight was pointed straight at Mt. Coronet. "Ben. We've crippled the Cipher Admins in this fight. If you want to go to Mt. Coronet to where Axel is, as we will be doing, now is the time."

"Yeah!" Ben nodded. Marth and Ike, who were outside the entrance waiting for his return, saw the new determination in his eyes, and they turned to each other, agreeing that at long last, things looked hopeful for the future.

Niko, who also had been waiting with Marth and Ike, dropped onto Ben's shoulder and took the headphones. "We've gotten practically everyone's by now! This should be enough!" he proclaimed.

"Alright! Let's head to Mt. Coronet!" Ben shouted, thrusting a fist into the air, and the group headed off to their final battle.


	39. Theater of Silver Feathers: Reprise

The foot of Mt. Coronet was covered with swirling purple mist. Ben drew in a sharp breath as they entered, remembering what Ashura said about miasma. _Will I die so easily here, too?_

Marth nudged him in the side. "Don't worry. We'll use magic to protect you," he reassured Ben. "So, Aeron, what will you-"

Aeron wasn't listening to him, but instead had his Pokénav to his ear. "I see. We'll be on our way." He put down his Pokénav. "Anabel, Kotone, Cynthia and Silver staged an attack on a different part of the mountain and it's going badly. We need to go help them."

"The other Origin Captains will be coming to this point as well, shouldn't we wait for them?" Ben reasoned.

"There isn't time for that! We're the closest ones!" Aeron was already running. "Ben, go on and find Axel! We'll rejoin with you later!" With that, he was gone.

"Greatest apologies, but we will be going as well," Hyoshiro told them, and he followed Aeron with Hanna.

"I hope you don't need Chaos Blade Works a second time," Haku called as he and Eddie disappeared into the mist.

Ben watched them fade from sight with more than a bit of dismay. "I don't suppose we have any other ways of finding Axel quickly?"

"The first step is to find the last spot he's been reported to be in and start searching from there. Granted, he could have flown off already, but Axel's never been good enough at erasing his tracks for someone at Marth's level not to notice," Ike suggested. Marth did not take part in the conversation, too busy weaving the spells to protect them from the worst of the miasma.

Ben opened up the map Gaea had traced on. "Okay, so Axel was last sighted _here_…"

Marth held out his hand and was given the Pokétch, and then he traced a circle on the map. "I think we will find him somewhere around here by now."

"Don't even begin to say anything about patterns, Axel wouldn't do that!" Ike scoffed.

"Would he?" Marth replied, walking on into the mist. A green barrier appeared just off his skin by a hair's length just as he entered. "I took Axel's personality into account as well, not to mention…yes, Ike, I _did _take patterns into consideration. Axel attacks the ones closest to him first all the time, remember? But he seems to be heading towards _that_ point overall." He pointed at the very top of the mountain. "Ben, I'm sure you're aware of what is there?"

"Yeah. It's Spear Pillar," Ben nodded. "I don't know why he'd go there at this point, though…"

"It's Axel. He keeps these connections he makes to himself. Who will EVER know?" Niko replied, as the green barrier surrounded him as well, and he took a step into the mist after Marth.

Ike held out a hand, the green barrier enveloping his body and Ben's at that moment. "Come on, Ben. We're going to find that moron and save him."

* * *

The black feathers were totally indistinguishable from the rest of the sky. By now it looked like they would disappear at any moment.

No one had to tell him that he had stretched himself to his very limits. It was time to find cover quickly before anything bad could happen. His senses probed the area and found one more crystal in the gloom. All it would take would be to force the miasma from it and-

But wait. What were those three things flying through the air towards him? A shimmer of heat haze, a cascade of diamond dust, a jostle of stray electrons. Axel Nightblazer's eyes opened wide, for he realized he had fallen straight into the worst situation possible.

To his left, sinister purple flame burned upon pale yellow feathers in a terrible dissonance of color-all that remained of the Flame Pokémon Moltres. To his right, spiky purple feathers flapped swiftly towards him with a sharp elongated beak pointed straight at his heart-the Electric Pokémon, Zapdos. And directly behind him, long purple tail feathers drifted in the tainted winds in a manner so majestic it was as though one was in the presence of a royal that had proclaimed them as his enemy-the Freeze Pokémon Articuno. All three Legendary Birds, headed straight for him.

Axel halted his flight and raised both of his swords, pointing the black _daitos_ at Moltres, planning to take him out first. And then-the black feathers scattered, and his swords fragmented as well. As his coat crumbled away to reveal the original blue _shihakusho,_ Axel wondered with horror how he could have exerted himself to the point where he had completely drained his own power. The sealed _Shiruba-Getsu_ clattered to the ground next to him, while all three of the birds began to power up terrifying attacks. Moltres' body seared with a bright purple flame, Zapdos' wings crackled with purple electricity, and purple frost could be seen swirling in the air around Articuno's beak.

Picking his sword off the ground with teeth clenched, Axel broke out into a run almost immediately. The area where he was at was struck with a demonic freezing light one moment later, while scorching flames leapt straight after his heels. Axel crouched behind a rock to catch his breath, but Zapdos flew from the other side of the rock and struck harshly with the dark lightning bolts, forcing Axel to run once more.

Wordlessly, Axel raised _Shiruba-Getsu_ and converted it to a dark blue energy, coating his arm and creating a gauntlet of black hexagonal plates with dark blue energy holding them together. He looked relieved he could use his _Shikai_ still, but that relief was short lived when Zapdos came bearing down spinning rapidly and beak pointed at him.

Axel barely managed to dodge it, but the vacuum exerted by Zapdos' momentum threw him into the ground again, right into a concentrated beam of shadow from the sky by Moltres. A desperate dive saved Axel from meeting an early end once again, and he pointed at Moltres and sent multiple blasts of dark blue energy in rapid succession. However, Moltres was totally undaunted by that attack, and a glowing aura began to surround him as his eyes traced Axel for weak points. Axel set into motion once again, this time having to run with a harsh blizzard on his heels.

As Axel ran, he traced with blue light in the air a mysterious symbol, and a black pouch on a strap materialized itself in the air, with a handle sticking out of the back. Axel caught it by the handle and pulled it out of the pouch, revealing it to be a scattergun (a kind of shotgun I guess you could say) with two sawn-off barrels and a dark blue stock. Probably a totally inelegant weapon, but hey, elegant doesn't exactly save lives. Axel fixed the pouch onto his back as he ran, then reached into another pocket on it and pulled out gold-colored scattergun ammo with red covering, then stored them in his own pockets for quick access.

At that moment, Moltres bore down on him with shining wings, but Axel took a flying leap over him and pointed back with the gun, firing. The sheer force from the gun firing sent him flying back a ways away, completely throwing off Articuno's Ice Beam that targeted him while Moltres screamed from the many pellets that pierced through the flames that should have protected him from Axel's gun.

Axel smirked as his legs quickly bent to absorb the shock from falling, and he sprang up again, firing the other shot at Articuno and blowing both of them far apart from each other. Zapdos hurled thunderbolts at him, but a dark blue blade projected from _Shiruba-Getsu_ and slashed each lightning bolt apart, then Axel pointed at him with his right hand and fired some more dark blue blasts as he ran towards Zapdos, while somehow with only his left hand reloading the gun.

Articuno and Moltres recovered from the bullets and began to attack once again, icicles crashing down around Axel and a beam of shadow hurtling towards him. Axel began to cut the beam in two, but found himself suddenly overwhelmed and smashed flat against the ground, forced to take the full brunt of the attack. No sooner had the shadow disappeared than Zapdos was poised above him, ready to Drill Peck a giant hole in Axel's chest. Axel stood up quickly, shattered the icicles around him and ran for it before Zapdos jammed into the ground where he was previously, then turned around and shot pellets into Zapdos, slamming him into the other icicles while he was propelled backwards again.

One giant leap into the air, and Axel suddenly found Articuno in front of him, sucking in a gigantic breath to unleash a Blizzard attack. Axel got ready to fire, but he noticed that from another angle, Moltres' wings were burning and he was about to hurl a stream of fire. Realizing that if he attacked Articuno he would still be subject to Moltres' attack and vice versa, he pointed the gun upwards and pulled the trigger, jetting hard into the ground. Ignoring the huge pain from landing so hard on his back, he leapt to his feet and flipped the gun open on a hinge separating the barrels from the trigger and loaded two new shots into the barrels, then flipped it closed.

Just a second later, he found Moltres and Zapdos surging at him with Sky Attack and Drill Peck, and he was forced to waste another shot downwards, letting them crash into each other. Bringing his other hand back, dark blue energy surged through the plates themselves, gathering at his fist. "_Tsukiren!_" he shouted, hurling a great wave of energy upon them, and at the same time firing the gun for maximum damage.

However, a massive impact struck him from behind, sending him tumbling into the dirt. As Articuno hovered immobilized above him from the exertion, Axel turned on his heel and began to charge another attack, but Moltres recovered and breathed a stream of flames straight into his back. At that moment, Articuno began to blow his own icy breath upon Axel, dealing immense damage. When both attacks ended, Axel toppled to the ground, not looking as though he was very far from death.

Zapdos, hovering above him, prepared to unleash a tremendous lightning bolt. Barely managing to climb to his feet, Axel stumbled out of the way just in time. The scattergun lay several feet away from the lightning bolt, having been dropped when Axel was struck by Articuno and Moltres' attacks. Axel ran to pick it up, but noticed Articuno and Moltres coming at him with Giga Impact and Sky Attack at that moment. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a blue pistol-like gun with a notably large barrel. Pointing it at Articuno, he fired a blue flare with flames trailing, striking the Freeze Pokémon and setting his feathers alight. As the bird screamed and veered off course, Axel popped open the empty flare gun, placed a new flare in, and fired again, causing the flames to spread.

At that moment, Moltres' Sky Attack hit straight on, throwing Axel back and plowing up tons of dirt. Completely indifferent to the pain, but still checking to see if any bones were broken out of habit, Axel leapt to his feet immediately and prepared to fire another flare. Too late he realized, however, that he was just throwing firewood onto a bonfire. In fact, Moltres' flames were brightening with the intense heat. The flare sailed straight into his flaming aura and intensified it, causing the resulting Flare Blitz to incinerate the both of them. (NOTE: For whatever silly reason, Moltres cannot learn Flare Blitz.)

As soon as he recovered, Axel tossed away the flare gun, its ammo having exploded and destroyed the gun. Taking several steps back, stumbling along the way, he grabbed the scattergun and shot at Moltres with the one shot left in the chamber, hurling himself over a cliff. Landing on said cliff, he began to run as the Legendary Birds followed in hot pursuit. Their attacks, one after another, blasted the rocks behind him, threatening to throw him off balance and down a horrifyingly long drop. Axel began to move to reload his scattergun…and to his horror, realized that Moltres had destroyed all the ammo he had left.

At that moment, he began to pass through some tall grass, and suddenly an Abomisnow rose directly in front of him, eyes glowing purple._ A wild _Shadow_ Pokémon?!_ Axel threw himself to the side to avoid it bringing down a purple fist, and then ran just ahead of the Icy Wind it sent at him, dodging the ice in the air by a few hairs. The Legendary Birds hurtled by a moment later, ignoring Abomasnow. Next, an Absol leapt out at him, gnashing her teeth. Dark blue waves flew at her promptly, throwing her back into the grass. Even the wild Pokémon in the area were against Axel Nightblazer now.

A cave entrance stood just ahead of him. Dodging a Loudred, a Nosepass, and a Noctowl, Axel hurled himself into the cave, the Legendary Birds following him in. Even more Pokémon stood in his path now-Bronzong, Graveler, Medicham, Chimecho, and Clefairy to name a few. All of them threw attacks his way, but Axel dodged each one and let them all get struck by the Legendary Birds' attacks. There was another cave ahead, he noticed. Hurling himself in, he blasted the area above the Legendary Birds and rained rocks upon them, delaying them just long enough to catch his breath, he hoped.

As he staggered against the icy wall, however, he realized something terrible. _It shouldn't be icy in this cave if it isn't in the one adjoining._ At that moment, yellow lights in a cross pattern, with one large line parallel to the wall he was standing against and one short line perpendicular bisecting each other, flashed from the floor. Then, the statue embedded in the opposite wall began to shake, before crumbling to reveal ice tinted with a dark purple. Bright red lights flashed in the same pattern as the one on the floor. Axel had somehow stumbled into the lair of a Regice, and even when sealed in stone, it wasn't immune to the corruption from the miasma.

Just as Regice began to hurl a blast of focused power, Axel dashed out of the cave, the Iceberg Pokémon floating after him, launching Ice Beams without much restraint. The three Legendary Birds broke from the rock at that moment, barring the other way out. Axel was trapped between them.

Regice sped up sharply as its fist glowed with a freezing aura, but Axel barely managed to sidestep, and his blade struck its back, throwing the Iceberg Pokémon into the ground. Zapdos hurled a lightning bolt, and Axel sidestepped that as well, but he dodged straight into Moltres' flames. Articuno sailed straight into the flames and knocked Axel out of them with a tremendous impact, followed by Regice slamming rocks upon him and letting Zapdos and Moltres attack without impunity. Axel slashed through the rocks and barely managed to avoid the onslaught, then hurled himself at Zapdos, but before he even started moving, Zapdos' eyes had flashed with the knowledge of Axel's attack, and he dodged, letting Axel crash into the wall and Articuno and Regice to freeze him there while Moltres' glowing aura surrounded him, preparing for the finishing move.

* * *

"_Hey, Axel…what do you want to do with your life?"_

"_Huh? What kind of dumb question is that?" A 15-year old Axel Nightblazer gave an annoyed glance at that person who asked him the question, a girl with long golden hair and clear blue eyes much lighter in tint than his were. "And you're asking me this question now of all times?"_

"_I just thought of it now…" the girl replied, looking away in embarrassment about asking a question he didn't want to answer. "If you're not okay with answering, then that's just fine…"_

_Axel just let out a sigh and looked out the window of the shuttle they were sitting in, the numerous soldiers clad in sea green armor not paying attention to him. All of them bore the same insignia-a figure of a human head and torso with wings extending from the bottom of the torso, which he and the girl also wore. "Does it matter? Father will hold no future for me acceptable short of military service as that's our family's position."_

"_Oh…right, I forgot about that…" The girl glanced down at her lap, once again embarrassed. "Then…let's try a different question…if you could do whatever you wanted from now on, what would you do?"_

_Axel gazed out the window, himself not sure what the answer to that was. "Well…I don't know, but I think I'd probably just travel around the world. Seeing the same things time and again becomes tiresome quickly, and not many restrictions and such will be binding me if I keep moving."_

"…_is that so?" The girl seemed not too pleased with what he was saying. When he asked about this, she fiddled around with her hands a bit before finally answering. "Well, the way you put it…it just sounds like you'll be running away the whole time from 'restrictions.'"_

"_Running aw-are you serious?!" The look on Axel's face was as though something precious had been struck. "Why does it sound like that? I'm not afraid of rules and all that, I just don't like them! They make me not do things which I'd want to do, so…"_

"_Well, you said you don't really want to stay in one place…but then if you like the place, what happens? Are you going to keep travelling? Or maybe you wouldn't even stay long enough to like the place?"_

_These questions were getting annoyingly hard to answer by now. Axel turned away from the window, now looking up at the ceiling. "Of course if I found I liked the place I'd stay. That way I'd know what I really want to do. I don't actually have any real dream in mind right now, Pterra."_

"_So that's why you want to…?" Pterra's words were suddenly interrupted by a soldier walking up to them and informing them that they were reaching their destination. "Understood," she replied, and he walked away to arm himself. "I hope you'll find what you really want to do eventually, then…and maybe I'll come with you to help you find it. We've saved up quite a bit of off-time, you know; we can take a vacation whenever we want," she said, not aware that this was the last day they would see each other. (If you want to see what happened to Pterra and 15-year old Axel, look at _A Tale of Shining Stars_, one of my other stories, and read __**"chapter:tears of moon."**__)_

* * *

_Did my one chance of finding it die along with her ages ago?_

_After that day, I did wander around the world following my meeting with Aeron, but it didn't quite feel like there was really any meaning to it. We had made the decision to figure out what Axel Nightblazer stands for, the purpose he holds in his life. Yet here I am, years later, and I feel absolutely nothing._

_This life has been wasted. There are many people I've stood beside, and many people I've wanted to save…and time and again, I have failed. After this, I find myself alone, and wandering for the answer again, before finding someone else to support. The cycle repeats itself endlessly._

_Am I going to die alone here, without any meaning to my life whatsoever?_

* * *

The ice shattered, and Axel was falling onto the ground, meeting the hard, cold earth. "For once, I'm so glad you made such a big trail of destruction. I finally caught up to you!" he heard from his apparent savior. He would never have guessed who it was.

Ben, Niko, Marth and Ike stood between him and the Shadow Pokémon, swords drawn. Axel was stunned beyond belief when he saw the first one. "Ben?! What are you doing here? I thought I told you not to follow!"

"Sorry, Axel. I didn't listen, and I probably never can to a demand like that," Ben replied. Moltres' singeing flames hurtled at him, but Ben knocked them all to the side merely with swinging his swords, then when Moltres swooped at him with Sky Attack, he retaliated with _Oni Giri_ and sent the Flame Pokémon falling backwards into the ground. "You wouldn't have listened if I gave the same advice anyway!"

Axel couldn't argue his point further before Regice charged white light between his "hands" and fired it at him, but Niko sent it spinning in another direction by whipping it into the wall using his tail, then before the Iron Tail ended, he rammed it into the Iceberg Pokémon and slammed it into the wall. "We're not the type of friends who would just sit idly while another one of us was throwing everything he had into a fight even if he asked us to stay out of it!"

"I told you to stay out of it because it would have been too much to handle for any of you if I couldn't defeat it at full strength!" Axel retorted, getting to his feet. "Besides…do you really want to entrust your lives to _me, _even after I let hundreds die that day?"

Marth and Ike hurled themselves at the Legendary birds while Ben returned to where Axel was standing. "One fluke at protecting people doesn't matter, Axel. There are plenty of days when we all lose. It only matters if we can get up to protect what we still have for another day. You can't just throw your life away when you fail; you need to try again with even more effort!"

Axel sighed. He had heard that sort of talk multiple times in his life, and each time he hadn't quite bought it. "It's not just one failure, Ben…this one just was the worst one I've had. All the things that I've let happen…they don't prove me as someone who is capable of saving any of you."

"You forget what you _have_ done!" Ben insisted. "You stopped Giratina from ripping the world apart after Cyrus' actions, and you saved Chris and I countless times when we were fighting Team Galactic! And then, you were the one who first fought Demon Lugia when we invaded Cipher's lab and held your own long enough for it to stop targeting us! Every day, the people who know you still care that you're living. I especially feel happy you're still alive, because you've been the most important friend since Team Galactic attacked! If these don't tell you anything about the value of your existence…" Ben thrust Axel's headphones straight before the owner's eyes. "Who is the person that saved me a year ago and called himself Axel Nightblazer?"

The owner of the headphones' mind spun in circles, completely struck by surprise. The headphones had remained the most prized thing out of Axel's early years. He had accumulated a vast amount of songs with them, not to mention Aeron having him use them for other purposes, and though he always stuck to listening to at least a few of his favorite songs each day, the rest of the music that played was never quite the same each time. When he met new people and found himself getting closer to them, he always tried out listening to that music which they liked and found it to be a refreshingly new experience from what he was listening to previously. Not many had similar tastes to his, and he always got nostalgic feelings of memories with that person when the music they had introduced to him began playing. In a sense, every one of Axel's memories was contained within those headphones.

And now, one week had passed since that day he flew off to Mt. Coronet, not only without help and weakened, but also without this precious object. What had happened after that? Not only did he run in without any aid, but these songs-the remnants in his memory of every comrade-were separated from him as well, leaving him completely alone in spirit as well. That day he flew off without them, he had turned his back on even honoring their memory. He had been dashing off to a lonely death that no one would remember him for, and that meant the people who died with hope that Axel Nightblazer would still fight for their sake had placed their hopes in someone who had no goal except his own death. _I made myself just get even further from being dependable…_

"Everyone who could used these headphones as a vessel and put some of their own spiritual power in here. We did it all for your sake; we need you to be with us! So please…keep fighting for Sinnoh, and for the people who you care for!" Ben offered the headphones to Axel, with almost a pleading look on his face.

Axel's eyes centered on the headphones. _The power of everyone…_Taking them from Ben's hands, he placed them back on his ears. At once, a torrent of the stored power finally unleashed itself, surging into Axel's body in a rainbow of colors. He found the gauntlets on his hands morphing…the black plates began to polish themselves, turning bright silver again, while the energy that ran through them pulsed with the midnight blue it used to have-still dark, but not dull anymore. Then more colors ran through it, and the _reiryoku_(spiritual energy) his body generated began to change itself. Power flowed through every path in his body, restoring the expended energy and morphing it into a completely new form…

* * *

The fighting suddenly ceased on the other side of the mountain. Aeron, Pyrelios, Arboreon, Hanna, Eddie, Haku…even their enemies all stared up at the air suddenly, as though Mt. Coronet were actually a live volcano and had just erupted. As it was, lights could be seen flashing from random cave entrances. And then the _reiatsu_ struck them all. It was one they had never felt before; it felt like many traces of _reiryoku_ from different people. Then they could tell that _reiryoku_ belonged to them once, and then they noticed that when they all ran through the air together, there was still something familiar about their combined force…

The enemies, while possessing no spiritual sense yet still subject to the exerted force, lowered their eyes in despair. Aeron and his friends, on the other hand, suddenly found themselves cheering.

Somehow it was no secret to anyone that Axel Nightblazer had returned.

* * *

When Ben could finally look again, what he saw shocked him considerably. The rainbow-colored lights had disappeared, and silver-blue light flowed off Axel as normal, though with much more luster, but Axel no longer was wearing a simple _shihakusho_. Long black pants and boots now covered his legs rather than the dark blue _kimono_ and white _obi_ that were there previously. A long-sleeved, ridiculously fancy coat, which was a very dark shade of blue and lined with silver fabric, curved around his back and went down to his ankles, but there was seemingly no zipper as they angled up to meet at his waist. Further up, another section curved in front of him, meeting at his chest. Two more pieces of fabric, again outlined with silver, rested on his shoulders, and he had a collar which curved around the back of his neck. A black strap wrapped around his left shoulder connecting to another strap around his waist bore his sword, which looked roughly the same, except it had drastically increased in length and went down to his knees, despite the angle. As Axel inspected his clothes, he smiled. "Well, this outfit brings just a little bit of nostalgia," he commented.

The cries of the Legendary Birds reminded them of the battle they needed to fight. "I feel totally rejuvenated; even the fatigue is gone," Axel commented, drawing the long sword from his back. _Shiruba-Getsu, _even after being elongated still retained every other feature that could be remembered about it, from the silver blade that seemed to glow as though the fact that they were indoors meant nothing to the midnight blue _tsuba_ that wrapped around its silver hilt.

Yet looking at such a long blade, Ben couldn't help but find it looked much too slender compared to its length. The sword's overall length seemed to be about 2 meters-even taller than Axel himself. "Can anyone even wield a sword like that?" he wondered, but then his mind was even more confused when Axel held his sword low to the ground, leaning back and with his left hand raised almost decoratively in the air. It seemed like a low attack, but that wouldn't be good at all against any of the birds. And to begin with, Axel had never taken such a laid-back posture before, even despite his dozing off frequently during the summer. Even stranger, the Birds were not attacking, but simply staring back at Axel, whose eyes darted between each of them. Marth and Ike seemed to have been forgotten, but they were taking advantage of the situation to charge up powerful attacks wordlessly-_Islinger _gave off a blue glow and _Ragnell _a golden one. The silence was almost as though something terrible was coming, and no one could afford to make a false move.

Finally, Articuno swept in first with a tremendous force-Giga Impact. Axel responded by bringing his sword up to eye level, as it radiated a blue glow, and sparks flew off from the ground as his boots shoved violently against it, propelling him forward at a speed which threw the air around him aside. Articuno, who had been expecting some rudimentary guarding move, was surprised, but continued on. If the two clashed head-on, the one yielding would be Axel-but wait. Axel's sword had moved again during the charge. He had totally feinted, and now his sword swept from behind him horizontally into Articuno's head, throwing him into the wall with the force of the blow. Right behind Articuno was Moltres, however, and the aura from Sky Attack was flowing off of him. Axel seemed to slip all of a sudden, but that let Moltres sail just above him, and he was back on his feet shortly afterwards, swinging his sword upon Moltres' tail.

Zapdos hurled two Thunderbolts, but Axel's sword spun around his body, sending both attacks flying. Then Axel raised his sword above his right shoulder, somehow not off balance despite the fact that using such a long sword as the new _Shiruba-Getsu_ meant it should've been hard to hold collinear to his forearm. Realizing another attack was coming, Zapdos began to Detect Axel's next move, but it was too late-Axel was already moving towards him this time. Before Zapdos could even begin to dodge anything, the tip of Axel's blade sliced left and downward, sending the charge in Zapdos' feathers scattering as he took the hit. It wasn't over yet, either; Axel's sword twisted and he brought it up again, slashing up and left again, creating a second wound that formed a "V" with the first one.

Articuno and Moltres, having recovered somewhat, both turned around and sent streams of fire and ice at Axel, but his sword glowed with blue light and he swept it around in a circle, repelling the combined burst. It was anyone's guess how he didn't wedge it into the ground and screw up, but it hardly mattered to Axel, who, without missing a beat, as soon as the last of the flames parted before him, threw himself straight at them, once again with a glowing blade. Out of desperation, Articuno hurled hastily made icicles at him, and most of them missed, though one of them struck _Shiruba-Getsu_ and knocked it from Axel's grip- it was definitely a very light sword now, though it was very durable from the looks of it.

But no sooner did it fly from Axel's grip that he kicked the ground, spinning himself around in the air and catching it with his left hand then striking the ground with the flat and continuing his trajectory. Fire began to spin around Moltres as his last defense, but even this was futile, as Axel's charged sword sliced straight through it. It made contact with Moltres straight away, but Axel was still spinning around and _Shiruba-Getsu_ passed one more time through Moltres before Axel kicked off another wall and aimed his wrath at Articuno, who was throwing an almighty blizzard at him. However, the long yet light sword flew about wildly, knocking every bit of ice away before Axel continued his onslaught.

Three tremendous blows from different angles followed. It was impossible to follow _Shiruba-Getsu_ now, or even Axel's coat flapping in his own tailwind. Any expectations anyone had of his fighting had all been reduced to nothing, here and now. The light nature of _Shiruba-Getsu_ made it able to strike from any angle and faster than defenses could be set up, while Axel compensated for the severe decrease in cutting power by placing tremendous amounts of magic energy in it with each blow. Articuno could not stop the attacks at all, and let off clumsy movements and inaccurate attacks with each passing moment. Then Zapdos' spinning body hurtled at them from behind, beak aimed at Axel. Hearing the sound of Zapdos' wings, Axel spun on his heel and struck Zapdos in the side just as he did to Articuno at the restart of this titanic battle, and Zapdos was pushed into the wall.

Ben was so busy being awed by the battle, it took shouting from Niko and Ike to remind him that Regice was still wreaking havoc. Marth struck weak points in the ice that made up its body, and Ike landed heavy blows one after another, but Regice simply refroze itself and continued to attack. Resolving to do his best just as Axel was now, Ben bent down and pointed both swords in his hands at Regice and charged, landing multiple hits on Regice.

The Iceberg Pokémon ignored those hits, but before it could refreeze, Niko let loose several Thunderbolts straight at those cracks, followed by Marth's _Dancing Blade_, and then followed by Ike plunging his sword into the ground and causing magma to burst up beneath Regice, melting at the cracks even more. Finally, the Iceberg Pokémon slammed into the ground, eyes gone dark. It was unable to keep battling, and though it would refreeze and repair itself later, it was no longer a threat.

They turned their attention back to Axel and saw him leaping between the three repeatedly, striking for massive damage and then dodging their attacks only to strike at a different one. Were it not for the fact that the ones he wasn't attacking were slowly healing, it would have been a one-sided fight, and even then, this still didn't look fair at all with Axel's incredible speed. Regeneration meant nothing now.

All three Birds finally lay almost defeated around the cave, but their eyes still burned with absolute rage. Each one was entering Reverse Mode! "Get back!" Ike shouted, and Axel realized that he certainly would have to dodge the next attack. The blasts of fire, lightning and ice resumed, but this time they were a blood red color and much more violent, making Axel not seem to be overpowering them as much as before, though he still was dodging it all. Of course, then one icicle looked as though it was going to come towards him-

Marth, who somehow made it by deflecting all the attacks with a multitude of blades, slashed the icicle and got in front of Axel. "Release your _Shikai_!" he ordered, furiously beating back each attack with multicolored slashes. "Against the three of them in Reverse Mode, that's the only way we'll stand a chance!" Marth slowly tried to advance, but the sheer firepower of the Birds was too great for him.

"I thought you'd never ask," Axel replied, as he held _Shiruba-Getsu_ perfectly vertical and upside-down in front of him. It began to glow with a silver light, beginning from the tip of the blade. "_The darkness that covers the midnight sky, become the bright light of hope with the wishes that lie upon the stars you surround and soar!"_ At this point, the blade had became completely enveloped in the light, and a wind began to sweep around it, with silver feathers seeming to appear in the air. Strangely, water seemed to be flying from the rocks to meet it. _"With your silver wings of hope, rule over the Midnight Heavens!"_ Axel declared, and the shape of the sword became blurred by the wind, water and light.

"Wait, what is this? I've never heard this before!" Ben demanded, confused. "He didn't say that to activate _Shiruba-Getsu_ before!"

"The first time any of the others entered _Shikai_ for the first time, they had an extended release command," Ike replied. "It was dispensed with later. But because Axel has practically been reborn following what you've just done, it's as though _Shiruba-Getsu_ has been reborn as well-changed from the very roots of its existence. What will his new _Shikai _look like…?"

Raising the now-indistinct mass of silver energy above his head, Axel tossed it into the air, where it suddenly split in two and spread down his wrist, solidifying into hexagonal armor plates moving from palm to elbow, except this time the energy running between them looked more like rushing water than anything. However, more shining silver energy rested in Axel's hand this time, and he raised his other arm, as the energy flew to it and covered it with a twin gauntlet. As the shining light disappeared, Axel thrust out both hands to his sides, and twin silver blades extended-but these more resembled wings than swords. Dashing past Marth, he began cutting through the energy, somehow never failing to take the next step towards the Birds.

Ike raised _Ragnell_ at that moment, and fire began to gather along its edge, as he leveled it right next to Axel's path and unleashed it in a gigantic burst, briefly cutting through the attacks and clearing a path for Axel to move along without fear. Axel didn't hesitate and moved upon it, then threw himself along it in the wake of Ragnell's flame, the wings on his arms trailing silver feathers as though they were cutting through a strong wind themselves. _"Maryoku Hoshutsu_ (Prana Burst)_!"_ he shouted, and the gauntlets radiated brighter before exploding with an intense force, sending Axel closer and closer to the Birds before the path could close. Moltres stood directly in front of him, and Axel was already drawing his hand back, as though to punch him. _"Tsukiren-Suigetsu_ (Moon Ripple-Moon in the Water)!" he shouted, and as he made the punch, the "water" flowing between the plates that composed _Shiruba-Getsu_ blasted outwards in a dark blue wave of water, slamming Moltres and knocking him out for good. Moltres had been knocked out so fast, Articuno and Zapdos actually didn't have time to register that their defense had been penetrated, and Axel ran across the _ceiling_ to appear above Articuno, slamming both wing-shaped blades upon him and activating a second Prana Burst, throwing the Freeze Pokémon about with the force of a hurricane.

Suddenly being the only one left, Zapdos was already beginning to fear and began to hurl lightning bolts desperately, but Axel turned around and slashed through each one, dispelling the electrons and then making another mad dash at Zapdos. The Electric Pokémon, as its last ditch effort, began to charge up the alarmingly large amount of energy required for Zap Cannon.

He would never fire it, though, because Axel threw his arms to the sides, sending the feathers on the wing-like blades scattering. _"Getsu Taiho!"_ he shouted, and all the feathers boomeranged back at Zapdos, cutting him from many angles, giving Axel enough time to get in close and cut him down. Just like that, all three Legendary Birds had been defeated.

Nothing in the cave moved for a while. Then finally, Ben began to ask, "What were those new moves you picked up?"

"_Maryoku Hoshutsu_ isn't actually a technique exclusive to me," Axel replied, as the silver energy pulled itself from his arms and reformed the long blade. "Anyone skilled with magic can use it-I guess I just found some new favorite magic. Geez, that makes me go fast!"

"It seems you have control over water as well," Marth noted. "Though the new abilities you've picked up, I don't expect to see you making extensive use of them any time soon. It will take a long time to get used to them."

"I don't think I would mind fighting like that at least another time," Axel replied, flicking the long sword right, then left, then held it upon his back, the scabbard spreading across it like water. No one had noticed it, but it actually had disappeared the moment Axel drew the sword. This made it convenient because now _Shiruba-Getsu's_ length would not be a problem. "Come on, everyone. Cipher's probably noticed I'm here by now. They'll be throwing themselves upon me in a few moments."

"Yeah, we'll have to worry about something even worse than wild Shadow Pokémon," Ben agreed, beginning to follow.

"And, Ben…" Axel stopped for just a moment, though his back was turned so Ben couldn't see his face. "Sorry for leaving you behind. That's a mistake I'm definitely not making again. And, for once…thanks for being terrible at following my directions."

"If you ever tell me to stay back when you're dashing into a situation with a terrible hand, don't expect me to follow them," Ben grinned, offering his fist up. Axel turned, gave him the familiar friendly smile, and bumped his own fist against Ben's, before they headed back out into the dark mist to challenge the shadow of Cipher once more.

* * *

**FINALLY. IT'S SO GOOD TO BE ABLE TO WRITE ABOUT AXEL AGAIN.**

**The guns Axel used were my attempt to bring in an element from **_**Team Fortress 2**_**, the game which distracts me from my writing these days (I'M NOT SORRY). The scattergun was based on the Force-a-Nature, an incredibly bad Scout weapon in most players' eyes because of its minuscule clip size. My version in this writing exaggerated the huge knockback the weapon possesses on both user and target at close range.**

**The other gun was based on the Flare Gun (heck I even called it that!), a weapon for the Pyro, obviously. It can burn players and cause critical hits to players that are already burning. Annoyingly, the projectiles have a downward trajectory, which gives problems when I try to strike from long range. I don't really know how flares work, and I was too lazy to do my research on that, sooo…yeah.**

**And if you didn't know, I don't actually know very much about guns, so it's a wonder how I know basic things like "stock" and "barrel." XD**

**There really is a Regice in Mt. Coronet, but you can't get it unless you have a Regigigas from an event. Soooo…it will never be known how Axel suddenly awakened it out of nowhere. Let's just say Cipher messed around like they always do.**

**Because I'm changing Axel's personality a little, I decided to try and cross Kirito (Sword Art Online) and IV (Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal)'s outfits to create the new one for him and see what I got…though Kirito's really wasn't incorporated all that much because IV's outfit is too frikin' fancy :c**


	40. Overture toward Endgame

The howling gale that swept across Mt. Coronet was terrifying even for the Aetherian that was hiking up the side of the mountain with no company except an Espeon on his head.

Deciding to head to Axel himself as soon as the carnage was over, Aeron Solo now battled his way through an intense storm. For no reason whatsoever, and without any reports of bad weather for the week, a hurricane had spawned above the mountain, with dark clouds and pouring rain. It even had enough force to rival one he would have made.

Normally, a storm such as this could be suppressed by Aeron's powers. But even as he held his hand to the sky and channeled his power into the air, it would not respond. _Can we get to cover quickly? I don't think I can hold on much longer…_ This thought came from the Sun Pokémon on his head, but even if it was telepathy, Aeron felt like he was having trouble hearing it.

_I can't _say, Aeron responded, also with telepathy, for he was sure he couldn't be heard over the wind and rain. _It's safe to say, though…the source of this unnatural weather is not something of this world. We'll have to make it to cover eventually; I feel like it's trying to erode me from existence._ The final sentence was no exaggeration; everything was unsettling even Aeron to the core.

_Even if Axel's become stronger than he was before…whatever's going on here with this ungodly weather, can he stand up to it?_

* * *

"WHOA!" Ben jumped back into the cave, feeling the intense wind tear at his face. "What happened? The weather wasn't this bad when we got here!"

"This doesn't even feel like one of Aeron's storms, either," Axel added, sticking one hand out for just a moment before swiftly relinquishing it. "Something bizarre is at work here."

"Hey, can't you sense some _reiryoku_ in the wind?" Niko asked, ears twitching as he reached from Axel's shoulder out to feel the strange wind. "In fact, this _reiryoku_ seems familiar…and very hostile."

Axel's shoulders stiffened for a moment, and then relaxed…slightly. "Let's hope it's not _that_," he muttered. What he meant by "that" did not need to be said for the others to understand.

"On a side note," Marth's voice finally managed to break up the silence. "Does anyone have an idea to get past this storm, whatever it is?"

"Well, we don't have Aeron with us right now, so…" Axel looked around, sighed, and turned around to walk into the cave. "We need to find an alternate route to the top."

"So what _is_ at the top anyway? Aside from Spear Pillar, that is," Ben asked, hurrying to meet Axel's speed.

"The only thing worthy of mention is Spear Pillar. And that's _exactly_ what I'm looking for," Axel replied, as if it were the most logical idea. "Because it is actually the Sanctuary for the Dragon-Type!"

"Wait…hang on, how did you know it would be there?"

Niko was the one who spoke this time. "It's most likely because of the relation to Dialga and Palkia-they were born from there, and created the rest of the entire world from it. So it's not just a monument to time and space-they're both Dragon-type, so the presence of draconic energy is quite high."

"Uh…if you say so?" Ben wasn't quite sure he understood, but decided to roll with it nonetheless.

At this moment, Axel suddenly froze. Multiple people in the group began to ask him what was wrong, but he raised a finger to his lips, took two steps as silently as possible, and then bounded out from behind the corner, _Shiruba-Getsu_ singing with an eerie note as it was pulled from its dissolving scabbard. There were several screams as the long sword swept through several ranks of Cipher Peons, and by the time the others had rounded the corner, several Cipher Peons were lying unconscious, not even having a chance to call out their Pokémon. "I used the blunt edge to hit them, so at worse they'll have huge bruises," Axel noted. "Oh, and Cipher will be down a few bucks to repair the armor stuff."

Ike whistled as he examined the shredded armor that was so cleanly cut there were no stray shards of it. "I haven't seen you do things like that for a while. You weren't quite the guy to go to for assassinations if I remember correctly."

"Then you may have remembered wrong," Axel replied, adjusting his coat and placing the sword on his back, the blue sheath reforming over it within seconds. "Well, it doesn't matter. Guess I'll confiscate their Pokémon, though…"

"Even the non-Shadow ones?" Marth interrupted, crossing his arms. Axel rethought it, then took the ones he could sense shadow energy from and then created an electric pulse of magic, disabling the rest so they couldn't be used later, as per the unspoken rule that no normal Pokémon should be taken.

Dusting himself off, Axel stood up and looked in another direction. "I think I hear some more people coming. Be careful. And Ike, I'll leave you to guard the rear, but take extreme caution; I detect a very strong presence of idiocy in that passage."

Everyone gave him a bizarre look, also having detected that presence. "But, Axel, it's-" Ike began.

Axel nodded without letting him finish, the corners of his mouth twitching up in a smirk. "That's why I said it was a strong presence of idiocy."

Several more screams behind them, and then a Cipher Peon was sent flying into the same passage as them. Then after that, Aeron walked in from the same direction he had sent the Cipher Peon flying, with Soelle just behind him. "Hey, hey. I'm the idiot now? According to the guy who went off by himself to practically commit suicide just to deal tons of damage which probably could've been covered by Cipher's tendency to Zerg Rush?" (Zerg Rush: A tactic that involves swarming using weak enemies to wear down enemies. Seems to be an odd favorite of the Big Bads in most media today.)

"At least I did more damage than you would've done if you tried the same thing," Axel retorted. "And it's not like I left glaring clues on where I was going."

"If that's the case, explain how the Legendary Birds found you," Ike suddenly called from behind.

"And how we also found you so easily," Marth added. Neither one tried hard to hide their smirks. Ben considered trying to side with Axel, especially because the process wasn't easy at all, but couldn't find any good arguments and remained silent.

After an awkward silence, Axel just muttered something in defeat and sighed. "Aw, forget it," he muttered.

"…well, you made a good effort at trying to hide everything relating to your presence from us as well," Aeron noted as he came closer. "If it weren't for Ben, we'd still not know where you were…which would've been too late at this time, am I right?"

Axel refused to answer that question and walked off with a very annoyed air, though the others couldn't help but feel it looked rather comical, as though he were acting much less mature than his age…actually, much doesn't even begin to describe it. Yet the others couldn't help but laugh at how silly and juvenile his actions were when the previous hour, he was in a poor state of mind.

* * *

The next hour was spent amongst the shrill notes of flying blades and flashes of sparks from the metal striking. With Aeron by their side, now they progressed through the caves even faster. In fact, the others had to do practically nothing while Axel and Aeron took to the front, Axel's long sword sweeping through the ranks of the Cipher Peons as he ran right between several that stood practically side by side, and Aeron, now using his invisible sword as well as _Tsubasa no Raioh _in _Shikai_, leaping between the enemies before they had a chance to counterattack Axel and striking them from directions they couldn't react to in time.

As the two literally danced between the legions, the Cipher Peons couldn't keep up with either Axel or Aeron on their own, and the tactics the two displayed when fighting in tandem-rather than just them fighting in the same area as individuals-made things even worse. Normally, Axel would throw so many light hits upon an enemy they could not respond before he had overwhelmed them, while Aeron would strike calculated blows upon the least-well defended points and skillfully repel each attack that came at him. But now not only did Axel strike fast, but the longer _Shiruba-Getsu_ caused his attacks to scatter the Cipher Peons erratically, and he also would occasionally ram his shoulder into them, stunning them from the impact before taking them out with his normal tactics.

And Aeron…was something different entirely with the invisible sword. While his right arm and _Tsubasa no Raioh_, he still struck fast, accurate blows, but his left arm made wide sweeps that slammed into enemies with tremendous force and blew them away like leaves in a hurricane, just before leaping after them and striking with _Tsubasa no Raioh._ And this wasn't even when they were using their special abilities; Aeron's various attacks caused the Cipher Peons to scatter further into confusion with whirlpools, blasts of fire, freezing bolts, lightning, and discharges of Invisible Air.

At that moment, Axel would take the water created by Aeron's whirlpool attack and sweep it through their ranks once again. This would hurl them into the walls and leaving them helpless before Aeron's attack. The twins stormed up the mountain at a breakneck pace, with the others barely able to follow even when they weren't the ones battling.

Axel was glad to see Aeron was fighting at (almost) full power now, while Aeron was astounded by Axel's new abilities and fighting style. Occasional comments of praise, sometimes sarcastic and sometimes genuine, passed between them.

Then at one point, Aeron rounded a corner and saw two Cipher Peons sitting at computers, seeming to collect environmental data to make sure there were no fluctuations in the miasma. Holding a finger to his lips, he silently ran up to them from behind and struck one swiftly in the back of the head, then kicked another one over the cheap table he was working on top of.

However, Axel grabbed the computer just before it landed and placed it gently on the floor, then picked up a wire connected to his headphones and pushed it into the computer. "Um…what are you doing?" Ben asked.

Axel's face had a huge smirk as windows began to open up on the computer without him having to lift a finger. "Hacking the network. Cipher probably uses the same connection for all their computers that are collecting this data, and they have to go to some main computer that compiles all the data. So I can pull files straight from the homegroup!"

Of course, Axel searched as much as he could, but didn't find anything that could be of value, until he reached the last folder and found a file of…

At that moment when his shoulders stiffened, everyone knew what he saw was important and crowded around the computer. The first thing they noticed was that it portrayed a Lugia. Although all of them knew right away which Lugia it was that would make Axel react like that. "…looks like I've finished copying the files," Axel finally declared, somewhat less bold than before. "Let's get moving-"

Aeron pushed him aside and looked over the info. "Hm…it seems Demon Lugia has lost both rational thought and his control over the storms that appear when he flaps his wings," he noted. "Meaning whenever Demon Lugia's in the nearby area, its bizarre shadow storms start raging for a few km around him…ah, that explains the terrible weather that's been going on outside for a while."

"So that means Demon Lugia might be right above us…just wonderful," Marth muttered. Then he noticed something else. "Wait…it says here he gains power when there is an abundance of miasma in the area…and after each mission, he must be charged with a unique energy. The process takes about a week."

Ben thought about it, then shook his head. "It's already been a week since Demon Lugia destroyed the Battle Frontier. He'd have to be at full power at this moment."

"But. We still have a few advantages against him," Marth reasoned. "We can isolate him from the miasma and make him lose a large amount of his power through Chaos Blade Works. Next, Ben's _Wado Ichimonji_ can destroy the barrier if you chain enough hits…though you'll have to do it fast. My Shield Breaker might be able to pierce it, as would Axel's _Ketatamashi Getsu_. Finally, we have-"

"Me?" Aeron asked with a wry grin.

Marth glared at him for the boastful comment, but said nothing. "So we still have several advantages. And because most of the Origin Captains are here, we've got enough power to nullify most of the special attributes of Demon Lugia…the only problem is that we can't determine how much he's supercharged with that special energy."

"Good. Send this to everyone else," Aeron ordered, and Axel quickly saved the file to his headphones (yes, Axel's headphones have data banks, but more about that later). Then he squeezed his thumb and index finger together, calling down a holographic screen. There were numerous boxes on it stacked vertically with words written on them to do their job. Axel pressed one that said "mail", then clicked numerous names on the screen-specifically those of Hanna and the others-and sent the file to them. "Let's get moving, then!" Aeron declared, getting up, but then he noticed Axel was rapidly typing away with a huge smirk on his face. "Um…Axel? What's with that look?"

Axel didn't listen and simply pressed the enter button. The screen suddenly went black, and then a blue screen appeared, showing:

**A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent further damage to your computer.**

**ALL_YOUR_BASE_ARE_BELONG_TO_US**

**If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:**

**Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any Windows updates you might need.**

**If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as catching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your compute, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.**

**Technical information:**

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**Beginning dump of physical memory  
Physical memory dump complete.  
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.**

Axel stepped back and dusted his hands off. "This ought to be good," he grinned, taking out the headphone cord. Everyone else groaned and facepalmed.

Meanwhile, every other computer in Cipher's system experienced the same screen, causing large amounts of raging and computer smashing.

* * *

Eventually, they found themselves standing at another cave opening up to the mottled purple clouds. Checking the altitude meter and the map, Ben sighed. "We've gone as far as we can by underground routes. We'll have to leave the cave at this point."

"Just wonderful," Aeron muttered, and everyone was surprised even he didn't sound enthusiastic about going in through the storm. "I barely managed to get through it _last_ time, and now, we're even closer to those clouds…argh. Soelle, let's put up a Light Screen for the time being."

Soelle began to comply, but then she saw something outside and froze, all hairs standing on end. "Um…Soelle? Hey, are you okay?" Niko went up to her, grabbing a Cheri Berry from Axel's pocket. "If you're paralyzed, I've got t-"

But his voice died out when he caught a glimpse of her eyes. They were absolutely terror-filled, and as he had gotten closer, he even noticed she was trembling. Then, finally, Soelle began to stutter out something and point a paw towards the clouds outside, confirming the worst fears everyone had as they slowly turned back. Axel and Niko, in particular, broke into a cold sweat when they beheld it.

Two glowing red eyes had appeared out of the miasma-filled black mist-no, it wasn't mist anymore. It was the black body of a dragon-like Pokémon with a red underbelly and sharp talons. The eyes glowed with absolute hate towards them, and its mouth opened wide in a howl that shook the earth and even the very bones of the group. Its identity did not have to be questioned; it was Demon Lugia.

"It's…here…" Niko finally managed weakly. "That thing that defeated all six of us, and Axel right after that…Demon Lugia…"

"No one was actually able to defeat it before," Aeron added, gripping his swords tightly. "It was only repelled…or frozen…but now only we are here to fight it…"

Axel did not speak at all, but remained motionless. His mouth and throat had dried out just like that, and his mind had gone blank. This was the monster that had caused him to fall into despair and attempt to throw away his life, and even in the few moments when he managed to sleep, it had haunted his dreams. When Ben had used the power inside the headphones to revitalize and strengthen him, he had felt invincible at the time, but seeing Demon Lugia once again threw all that confidence away. The only things he could think of at that time were his previous defeat and that terror that only comes when hope turns to despair. What could be done now…?

At that moment, Demon Lugia howled once again, sending a stream of water straight at the cave entrance. Snapping back to reality, Axel ignored the panic as best as he could and unsheathed his sword in a mad dash. Thinking about what had happened before would not redeem himself or save anyone. What was happening, here and now, was the only reality that could be accepted.

"Rule over the Midnight Heavens, _Shiruba-Getsu!_" he roared in a voice much more forceful than before. As if it was responding to his sudden invigoration, the gauntlets flashed upon his hands faster than they had before as he punched towards the water stream. Dark blue water gushed out back towards Demon Lugia, violently battering against the dark purple liquid. At first, it seemed as though the purple cascade would pierce the blue stream, but Axel strained against it with every bit of power that he could find in his body.

Slowly, in the midst of the dark, tainted water, Axel's blue stream began to take shape into the sleek head of a sea creature with a pointed nose and a mouth full of fangs. From four sides of the face the head protruded back and outward as if creating fins, the one protruding upwards longer than the rest. This head roared, gnashed its teeth, and defied the treacherous waters around it, cutting straight through them without restraint.

Time and again, the current of the tainted water pushed it back, but each time it pressed onward with even more resolve. Finally, it sheared through the entire cascade, tearing at Demon Lugia with its fangs and knocking him backwards. The demonic Pokémon shook his head, as if the attack had truly stunned him, and then glowered at Axel with even more hate, preparing to fire another attack…

The green beam of light that sailed past Axel's head the next moment pierced the dark clouds that began to gather around the wings of the Diving Pokémon and exploded violently, once again disrupting the attack. Axel turned slowly to see Aeron's right hand raised, a single finger taken off _Tsubasa no Raioh_ and pointed at Demon Lugia, more lines of green light pulling in around it. "I thought the obvious thing to do was run away, but we'll have to fight this thing sooner or later. Axel, if you're serious about fighting this thing a second time…" Aeron cracked a huge, enthusiastic smile. "How can I just sit out and let you fight alone again?"

"We'll go all out on it!" Ben agreed, drawing all three swords. "Everyone will!"

Axel watched the others prepare to fight and couldn't help but smile at how they went so far just for him, and were still willing to keep moving on with him until the end. Then he turned back to Demon Lugia, who seemed unfazed by the united front that just appeared in front of him and just let out his signature roar again. As if this was the signal for the battle to start, everyone let out a battle cry and charged at him for the most difficult battle yet.

Fragments of ice burst from the wings of Demon Lugia, but _Islinger _flashed as Marth made multiple stabbing motions with it, knocking away all the ice and at the same time bending down for a Dolphin Slash, though he was surprised that he had actually been driven back by the attack. Immediately after the storm of ice ended, Ike leapt over Marth and raised Ragnell, bringing it down with a yell upon Demon Lugia's head. The blade stopped just millimeters away due to the barrier just off the Diving Pokémon's body, but Ike's tremendous strength actually managed to force him back.

Axel and Ben made a leap straight at Demon Lugia at this very moment. Ben's arms crossed in front of his chest, and he turned his head so the blade was pointing away from Demon Lugia. But before he could use _Oni Giri_…he realized he couldn't fly. "OH SHIIIIII-"

"Soelle! Catch Ben!" Aeron ordered. The Espeon complied without delay, catching Ben and throwing him at Demon Lugia and allowing him to continue his attack. All three blades crashed against the barrier as Ben started chaining various attacks upon the barrier. Meanwhile, Axel's gauntlets flashed, shooting him upwards in a storm of silver feathers. His arms outstretched as the wing-like blades flashed into existence and struck at where the barrier was supposed to be, just as Wado Ichimonji flashed and struck the barrier, causing a red veil to suddenly appear and dissolve away.

Demon Lugia roared in pain from the barrier's disappearance, but that was the least of his worries when Axel was swinging his blades relentlessly at his head. Then Niko hurled Thunder at the Diving Pokémon, and Marth took a flying leap while swinging upwards, both of which dealt considerable damage. The Diving Pokémon angrily stomped the ground, sending pulses of seismic energy which nearly toppled Aeron, Soelle, and Niko, but they held their ground, and Soelle's gem flashed as it fired Zap Cannon. However, the reforming barrier blocked it partially, and Demon Lugia did not seem fazed by the attack.

Ike flipped backwards while slashing, and the ability of _Luna _ignored the partial barrier to deal massive damage, while Axel's swords just kept swinging, as if they could cut through the barrier now. The Demonic Pokémon began to retreat from Axel, or so it seemed, but then opened his mouth, revealing a maelstrom of red energy, and fired out Aeroblast, blowing Axel backwards so hard it took him incredible effort to halt his flight and then strike back at Demon Lugia. "I'm ready! Now stand back, everyone!" he heard Aeron shout, and Axel noticed he could smell ozone. His foot kicked out, and he sailed back towards earth.

Aeron's right hand raised itself without _Tsubasa no Raioh_, and a three-pronged spear of glowing golden, violently crackling lightning appeared in his palm as he shifted his right foot back and raised the invisible sword, pointing its tip which only he could see at Demon Lugia. The winds began to pick up, blowing back towards Demon Lugia in defiance. The clouds began to swirl, and lightning flashed in the air.

"_Sanmai no Raitenyari: Torishūra_ (Third Lightning Heaven Spear: Trishula)!" Aeron roared as he hurled the spear at the center of the swirling clouds. The golden light disappeared into the sky-and one moment later, thousands of lightning bolts rained from the sky upon Demon Lugia just as he began to reconstruct his barrier. The lightning bolts crashed against the barrier in a storm of gold and crimson, but the might of Trishula could not be stopped by the incomplete barrier. Demon Lugia, once again, was forced to take the attack head-on.

However, as soon as the attack ended, Demon Lugia's eyes flashed, and a red lightning bolt came down upon Aeron. When Aeron tried to stand against it, it hurled him into the wall without any of the other effects that came when he absorbed electricity. As soon as this resolved, dark energy whirled in a typhoon at the combatants, blowing tons of debris into them while the winds themselves ripped mercilessly through their defenses. Even Niko and Soelle's tandem Light Screen could do nothing before the attack, allowing Demon Lugia to continue his assault with purple shards of ice.

Gritting his teeth, Axel forced his body to move and called upon the water in the immediate area, causing it to amass just in front of the Blizzard. The ice shards struck it, and Axel forced the current of the water back towards Demon Lugia to slow the shards as much as possible before they froze the water, leaving them safe. Ike moved next, jumping at the newly-formed mass of ice and kicking it straight at Demon Lugia's head. Unfortunately, at this point Demon Lugia's barrier had reformed, and the ice shattered harmlessly against it.

However, while Demon Lugia's view was obstructed by the ice, Marth flew at him head-on and pulled back his sword, which was glowing blue at the moment. Islinger jabbed forward, and the barrier actually flashed violently from Shield Breaker. This was followed by Aeron throwing both Brionac and Gungnir at Demon Lugia, and Ike sending jets of magma flying up from beneath him. The Diving Pokémon took to the air and let the magma miss, but Aeron simply pointed at Brionac and Gungnir and they shattered into raw lightning bolts, which soared up into Demon Lugia's underbelly and sent him falling out of the sky. However, Demon Lugia got straight up and made another roar, and suddenly everyone was aware of purple threads weaving themselves across the battlefield, leaving much less room to move.

Once this was done, the Demon Pokémon flapped his wings and ascended, at the same time shooting enough water from his mouth to cause a few dozen floods. Soelle and Niko placed a Light Screen just above them, just barely repelling most of the water. Aeron pointed his own palm at the deluge, blue streaks of cold air flying into it. A moment later, it was all frozen, and he jabbed at the mass of ice and shattered it.

Just as Axel was about to make his next move, however, a strange darkness suddenly covered him, Ben, Aeron, Niko, Soelle, and the rest of the mountain. Demon Lugia, Marth and Ike were still illuminated, however.

"…_**And thus, this world has no meaning."**_

It was at that moment that they noticed shining light from a ledge much further down the mountainside. This light was grasped in the hands of Haku, who was gazing intently at Demon Lugia. "Does he plan to fight Demon Lugia in Chaos Blade works?" Ben wondered. "But will it work?"

"It will buy you time, at the least," Marth replied, distancing himself and Ike from the others. "Axel, Aeron, Ben…you must head to the top and stop whatever Cipher's still doing! The rest of the Origin Captains will be fighting Demon Lugia!"

"_**From the very beginning, it was certainly made of swords. Kaosu Bureido Wakusu!"**_

A pulse of white light flew into the sky, illuminating the darkness and throwing white outlines upon everything, as well as illuminating white particles in the sky. Pale swords suddenly appeared, stabbed into the mountainside, before shattering into white fragments that blinded Axel, Aeron and Ben. When they could see again, to their surprise, while the miasma still hung in the air, the harsh weather was gone-and so were Demon Lugia, Marth, Haku, and Ike. "It almost sounds like they planned it out before we knew it…" Ben muttered.

"They all can communicate with each other when they want to, but to think they wouldn't tell us…" Aeron sighed and began to ascend the mountain once more. "Anyway, we're almost to the top. Let's finish this, guys!"

Axel, Niko and Soelle followed just after him, but then noticed Ben was starting to lag behind. "Hey, Ben, are you alright? You're actually not looking too great now…"

As it was, Ben thought his skin looked a bit more whitish than it did normally, and his breath was shallow. "I think I'm fine for now…" he wheezed, but both Aethereans took notice of the emphasis with which he said "for now". "I don't think I can fight for much longer, though."

Axel's look showed both guilt and self-loathing as he let out a "tch!" of displeasure. "The miasma must be taking effect on you now. Your body and senses might start crumbling away if this keeps up…this is what I was worried about when you arrived." He raised his right hand, pinched his thumb and index finger together, and made a motion of pulling down something. Numeous circular buttons came down upon the line he had traced in the air, and he pressed one that said "Inventory". A few more button clicks, and a green crystal shaped like a rectangular prism landed in his hand. He handed this to Ben. "If things get too bad, hold this up and say 'Recover'. It'll work for the time being."

"Uh…" Ben looked at it with a clueless expression. "Is that really all it takes?"

"It's a simple magic to use, so even humans can do it," Aeron affirmed. "Well, now that we have that out of the way…"

Suddenly, the miasma began to twist around in a pillar in front of them. Aeron suddenly broke off what he was saying and halted them, raising both his swords in a defensive stance. The others all began to feel like something terrible was on its way…

The polluted air peeled away to reveal two gigantic wheels that were designed after the yin-yang symbol, except instead of the white or black circle inside each section that was the opposite color, there were instead two black screws. Attached to the wheels were two metallic torsos-one blue, and one pink. Both possessed shoulders shaped like a U that seemed to be exhaust pipes. Blue arms with blades in place of hands manifested attached to the appropriately colored body, while the other possessed pink arms with cannons instead. Finally, the heads appeared-the blue one carrying a wickedly sharp blade on his head, while the pink one ending in a large cannon pointed skyward.

"Holy crap, how do you build something like this out of _miasma_?!" Ben wondered, gazing at the bizarrely-designed robot with interest, though he remained cautious.

The robot's wheels spun, turning the blue body towards them. Ben let out a yell of surprise and jumped backwards a few feet as the robot spoke in a deep voice. "I am Duon. Axel Nightblazer, I am also the last opponent you will ever face."

"Says who?!" Axel shouted back, taking a brave step forward. "I don't see how you can guarantee that so fast!"

"And even if that's the case," Aeron continued, "With Ben and I here, we can more than cover for Axel's weaknesses. Whatever advantage you think you have against hi-"

Suddenly, the wheels spun again, turning the pink body towards them, who began talking rapidly in a high-pitched, insane voice. "_I _AM DUON! I HAVE COME TO TEAR YOU APART LIMB BY LIMB, AERON SOLO! I WILL BLAST YOUR LIVER TO PIECES AND RIP OFF YOUR FLESH PIECE BY PI-"

"STOP IT!" the blue side roared, turning his head to glare at the pink side. "You interrupted me!" The pink side brought one of his cannons to bear and shot a burst of pink energy, knocking the blue head away, to which the blue head struck back with a blade.

"…talk about a dual personality?" Axel commented as he watched the two rage at each other, not sure whether to be amused something like this could happen or horrified at the extreme amount of profanity in their words.

"…um…guys, do you think retreating is a good idea?" Aeron asked, sounding _very_ unsettled. Axel suspected something so insane had actually scared the wits out of Aeron, something which amused Axel greatly…but unfortunately, it also made the situation very inconvenient.

"Um, no. WHAT THE HELL WOULD YOU RETREAT FOR AFTER WE CAME THIS FAR, YOU COWARD?!" Axel hollered, kicking Aeron straight at Duon's pink half. Both heads turned too late, and Aeron smashed into it with enough force to send Duon spinning rapidly about before striking a rock and slamming into the ground, plowing up dirt. "There, you've made yourself useful," Axel grinned towards an irritated Aeron. "Ben, let's take this guy on."

"Huh?" Ben looked up from a game on his iTouch. "Did you say something? Sorry, I'm infecting Australia-" His voice trailed off when Axel gave him the most annoyed look. "Uh…never mind." He stowed the iTouch and stood up, pretending that didn't happen.

Axel smacked his forehead with his hand and groaned. "Playing video games now of all times…"

Ben waved his arms in the air like a protesting child. "Hey! I thought he would stay arguing for a lot longer, which would give us some time to unwind-"

"Yeah, yeah, totally legit," Axel nodded with an unconvinced tone. "Ah, well. Let's strike this guy down and-"

Ben shook his head and pointed at the stairs. "Axel, I think you and Aeron should go on. I'll take Duon on by myself."

"Okay, seems legi-say WHAAAAAT?!" Axel and Aeron acted as though Ben had turned into a Magikarp. "Take _him_ on your own? He's probably designed to take us down specifically, so you shouldn't be able to-"

"I won't give up based on that chance!" Ben raised his Pokéballs and pressed the buttons, releasing all his Pokémon. "Besides, we don't know where the Admins are, remember? That's why you guys need to head to the top safely…you need to take down their leader and come back alive!"

Axel seemed to grapple with the decision for half a minute but Aeron made the decision by raising all his Pokéballs, then released Rayquaza, Psianne, Raika, and Rald. "Guys! Help Ben and take down Duon!"

_Alright. You can count on us,_ Psianne responded, returning Duon's furious leer with a Mean Look. Though both sides of Duon let out an undaunted roar, Psianne's eyes flashed, and a faint glow of green energy divided Axel, Soelle, Niko, and Aeron from the rest.

While Axel was giving one last glance back to Ben and a thumbs-up, he heard Aeron urge them on with "Let's keep going!" and turned away from his friend with all hope he could muster. However, he and Aeron barely even got meters away when they noticed six people standing at the top of the stairs. "The Admins are here, even though I dealt with most of them hours ago…" Aeron scowled.

The two Aethereans stepped onto the large platform of square stones to face the Admins. Axel noted that Aeron's grip on his swords tightened, and he himself held his armored hands in front of his hands, fingers outstretched as though to grab something.

Shooter looked rather depressed due to the absence of his gun, while Frostelius and Dordondii looked eager to fight. Luna showed the same cold expression which was always on her face, while Gaea stood in the back, eyes focused on Axel with some degree of guilt. Axel couldn't tell, but it seemed she pitied him, which confused the blue swordsman no matter how he thought of it. Rocky stood in front of them all, a determined expression on his face. His hand rose, and his mouth opened to issue a command…

However, before either side could take action, there were battle cries from behind them-some sounding like proud warriors, some savage and brutal. Then, Auralda, Gladias, Seishira, Arboreon, Pyrelios, and Volticron all flew out of the black clouds, landing between the Aethereans and their enemies with ground-breaking force. "Axel, Aeron! We will take care of them!" Auralda shouted, pointing a finger towards the peak of the mountain. "You keep going on!"

Without even having much time to be surprised, Axel and Aeron nodded, and Aeron threw out his hand, sending a great gust straight between Rocky and Dordondii, blowing them to the sides, then blasting through the gap with the air around him compressed into an umbrella shape, creating zero air friction. One moment later, the silver wing-blades let off a flash, and Axel disappeared down the same gap, leaving nothing but trailing silver feathers.

"Hey! Don't let them get loose!" Rocky shouted, turning around for one moment before suddenly finding himself getting lifted into the air and smashed back onto the ground violently by Seishira's psychic powers. "Screw it all…" Turning back, he raised his hand over his head and sent gigantic rocks flying at the Elementals, which called all the other Admins to action.

Axel and Aeron continued to run without looking back. For the sake of the Origin Captains, Ben, and the Elementals, they had to win now. Just too many people were suffering from Cipher. They had to end it all in one swoop before…

As they ascended the last few stairs, the heel of Axel's boot struck out and slid across the stones, bringing him to a halt gradually. "Is that the guy…?" he asked, pointing unsurely.

Aeron followed his gaze and saw the crystal that signified the Sanctuary…and hovering above it, a naked man whose entire body seemed holographic-it looked more like pixels, and they could see the ruined pillars behind him through the body. There was no hair on his head. His body was clearly bigger than theirs, as even though he was hunched over slightly, arms folded, he still towered at roughly 4 meters. Inside his body was a circular pink core with dark purple rings upon its surface when viewed from the angle that Axel and Aeron were standing at.

"I feel like I've seen this person before…" Aeron muttered to himself, raising his swords instinctively.

The man did not open his eyes as the two cautiously took small steps forward, but the corners of his mouth turned upwards in a vicious sneer. "So you two have come to fight me. I have been awaiting the chance to give you two exactly what you deserve for a long time…"

This obviously was an indication that he knew who they were, but they were not sure it was the other way around. "Give your name, and I might make enough effort to remember who you are," Axel ordered. Another step forward…why was it becoming so hard to take a step now?

"My name is Tabuu. Has it been so long since the times in which you resided in Dimension Zero that you can no longer remember?"

Axel shot Aeron a warning glance. Anything that mentioned Dimension Zero could not be good. That was the place Aethereans had originated from, and technically the world that was first created out of the nothingness. As for the name Tabuu…that didn't seem to be one they remembered, and his form certainly could not be remembered. Yet Aeron seemed to have a conclusion already. "If I had to guess…you were a criminal who was banished to the void between dimensions?"

"Correct. And as you can see, the inhospitable nature of that place has crumbled my body to this state." Tabuu looked about his arms with a disappointed look. "Ah, well…but, Aeron Solo, Axel Nightblazer…you realize _you_ played a role in my banishment, correct? It's taken me far too long to gain enough power to pose a threat, but your departure from Dimension Zero has made it easy for me to wipe you two from existence once and for all."

This was just a little too much for Axel to hear. His fists started clenching, and the area suddenly began to tremor. "You killed _thousands_ of people…and ruined _even more_ lives…just so you could get revenge on the _fourteen _people who sent you off into oblivion? What kind of monster…_ARE YOU_?!" With a furious expression, Axel's hand thrust skyward, and the tiles burst in several places as water flew up into the air in a vortex just above Axel. The water swirled dark blue at first, but then a silver light pierced the black clouds, entered the vortex, and caused it to come crashing down on Axel all at once. The single word he uttered at that point need not be said.

The cascade of silver suddenly stopped when four great feathered wings burst from the torrent, dispelling the water in showers of white to reveal Axel a good ten meters off the ground. Axel then held up two blue objects which looked like the hilts of swords chained together. The guard was shaped like a four-pointed star flat against the hilt rather than perpendicular to it. Two of the points had crescent moon-shaped objects attached to them, while the last point of the star projected a blade of silver light. "_Doki no Shiruba-Getsu!"_ Axel roared, an absolutely murderous wind blowing from his flapping wings.

Aeron, watching his brother, sighed and pointed _Tsubasa no Raioh _into the air. "I guess it can't be helped with him this angry…I'll have to go full power on scum like you." The last part was spat out rather harshly as the golden blade sent a green light into the clouds, twisting them into a spiral just above him and letting a golden lightning bolt strike him head-on. The golden light then gave way to a tower of pale blue ice, the tip of which broke off to reveal Aeron in an ankle-length coat with a golden inner layer and holding a broad, two-handed sword which tapered to the point. "_Senkei: Kage no Raioh."_

Tabuu glanced at this with amusement, and then a blade appeared to replace his hand. Then he charged at the two, signaling the beginning of the brutal fight between the beings of Dimension Zero.

* * *

**OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO HAVE TO DO FIGHTS FIGHTS FIGHTS FIGHTS FIGHTS FIGHTS AND MORE FIGHTS NOW. NOT JUST IN **_**SHADOWS OF THE DEMON **_**BUT ALSO **_**SILVER WINGS**_**. THIS WILL OVERLOAD MY BRAIN. AERON I'LL RELY ON YOU TO WRITE MY WILL.**

**Aaaaand our second contender from **_**Super Smash Bros. Brawl**_**'s adventure mode appears: Duon. I remember having quite a bit of trouble fighting him, and he's even ranked as **_**the**_** hardest boss of **_**SSBB**_** (despite the fact that I died FAR more against the real final boss). Speaking of the final boss…I planned this (poorly) for a long time but…I felt weird writing my description of Tabuu…OTL**

**The scene with Axel putting the virus in the computer utilized (most of) what you'd find on an actual Blue Screen of Death (I do hope I don't have to explain what that is). As for the technical information, since I don't know what's supposed to go there except a jumble of numbers, I threw in some words translated into binary. It translates out to "You have no chance to survive make your time."**

…**which leads to another reference. "All your base are belong to us" and "You have no chance to survive make your time" are both from Zero Wing (and both memes I picked up long after they were popular, sadly). I was originally going to include all components of the memetic opening, but then I decided nah because I felt spending too much time on that joke was a silly idea.**

**As for the sudden mention of Volticron…uh, sorry, I'll talk more about where he came from in the rewrite. As much of a spoiler this is, I'll tell you this so you won't be confused: he is the Elemental of Electricity, and his human identity is Volkner.**

**Any guess where the green miasma-curing crystal came from? :3**


End file.
